After talking with a friend about the above topic, we were in disagreement. Me, being a culinary student, believe it's proper, if not almost required in a culinary field interview. She believes that it is proper to wear a shirt and tie. So what is a reasonable answer?
No. You do NOT wear your chef's coat to an interview - even in the culinary field. Your chef's coat is your professional uniform and it has practical uses in your professional capacity. Like a surgeon wears scrubs and gloves while doing surgery and a fireman wears an oxygen mask and carries an ax as part of his uniform. However, during an interview, you are not acting in your professional capacity - that is to say that you are not performing your professional trade. So the uniform serves no purpose.
Wear a coat and tie to the interview. If after your initial interview, you are asked to demonstrate your cooking skills as part of a performance test - then by all means - wear your chef's coat in the kitchen while you are demonstrating your culinary skill.
Hope this helps.
I am a former chef and worked in Hotels for over 20 years and have to agree, not to wear a chefs uniform to an interview, it is just not done, I worked in Canada were I am from and in 3 foreign country's, and never saw anyone in the interview process in a chefs coat.
Mostly because they know what it looks like and they want to see you and how you present yourself, for a young lady going to a interview a nice blouse, slacks or skirt, neat hair, no tatoos/ piercings or wild jewellery, no wild or punk makeup and be ready with your resume and references first then other things like certificates or diplomas for the final kick.
I screen my share of prospective cooks and station chefs in my days.
You can't wrong with a suit&tie.
However, it depends on what the job is and where the interview is. If the job is a chef (or assitant chef), then wearing a chef's coat may show that you are ready to go and you could even prepare a dish. If the job won't involve working in the kitchen, then I'd ditch the coat.
I'm not in the culinary field,. so I just don't know what the customs are. My opinion is that you'd wear a suit or a sports jacket, not a chef's jacket.
If the interview has a cooking component to it, you could bring a chef's jacket to wear for that.
There's a message board frequented by professional chefs at http://forums.chef2chef.net/ - they can probably give you real-world info.
 When an interviewer says ''I'll Call You In A Day Or 2''. Is that a No Thank You?
 WHO IS JOE THE PLUMBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?
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Is it professional to wear a chef's coat to an interview relating to the culinary field?