Back in Catering College while doing my management training I was taught that a 'boss' would simply manage their employees while a 'leader' will push his/her employees to innovate, think creatively and strive for perfection every day!
If you are starting from scratch and have launched you're own business you are of course free to begin as you mean to go on. I personally would want the core members of my team to be around my own age with my kind of experience level so that we could all bounce ideas off of each other. I would also want to take on younger staff so that they could grow and develop within that positive environment adopting that 'strong work ethic' that I keep mentioning - very important!
I hasten to add here that I am in no way suggesting that anybody should be discriminated against based on there age or experience - absolutely not. I am all about equal opportunity. I am merely suggesting that in some cases, it may be wiser and more advantageous to some businesses to adopt this strategy. I personally have been on both sides of the fence on this issue. I have been a part (and I like to think a valuable part) of several well-oiled teams and have managed a small team of chefs twice over the years, once for a big pub/restaurant and a while later for a very busy hotel with a bar/diner. Both businesses were well established, and both times, when I look back, I adopted this simple, common-sense approach. All I can say is for the best part it worked!