From what you said, I don't think working in restaurants would be much help to you. You just won't learn the things you need to know to run your own food-related business, and the cooking you'll learn will be pretty limited. Better to take some courses at the CC/tech school to learn basic techniques, sanitation, food costing, marketing, and so on. And read, read, read -- about all kinds of different cuisines and techniques. Join professional organizations like the International Association of Culinary Professionals (
http://www.iacp.com) and network!
If you want to do consulting, though, you'll have to have experience in whatever part of the industry you want to consult to. Which means that you WOULD have to work for somebody else for a while, both to learn and to make contacts.