Do you have to know how to cook to own a restaurant?

Basically, I ask this because I heard about Les Wexner (a billionare living in my hometown) the CEO of Limited Brands. He started off with only $5,000 and opened up The Limited which was a sportswear clothing store for women. He didn’t design anything but he just owned the store and ran it. After seeing some success he opened other stores and some how made Victoria Secret very successful. I envy him and admire Les wexner!

My family owns a small mall strip with an Asian grocery that has been in business for almost 30 years. It also caters to African, Jamican, and other products. MANY of the Carribean and Asian stores buy products from us for their restaurant. My dad gave the restaurant business to his brother which makes far more profit than us and makes me a bit jealous…plus he doesn’t pay much rent for it. Oh yeah, people drive 2 hours just to shop here and eat here.

I was just thinking how can I do what Les Wexner did and open up more shops? I feel like the restaurant would be far more easier to open because it’s profitable and everyone likes to eat. Sadly, I don’t own the business…my uncle does and maybe my cousins would want it. With the grocery, I feel like it’d be more of a challenge because I’d have to know WHERE the minorities are at. I know a store like this wouldn’t do well in California or NY with PLENTY of ethnic shops =\ Don’t you agree? Also, our shop isn’t super nice like Wal-mart and high tech but a Mom and Pop shop with a decent sized building.

So, what did Les Wexner do? Just buy out companies? It’s so sad that I’m in Small Business management but my university didn’t teach me about this >_< Also, my dad doesn’t agree with opening another location cuz he believes employees would steal from him. He’s very untrusting lol

If you want to read about him here it is
http://www.limitedbrands.com/our_company/about_us/our_founder.aspx