I have seen so many amazing and successful bakeries and I've noticed quite a few of them are not refrigerated. I am opening a small bakery where I live. I am not sure if refrigerating them would be best or not. I assumed anything with cream cheese or egg would need to be refrigerated especially if they are not all sold the first day. If anyone has any input I would be grateful. I need to know whether or not to buy a dry display case or refrigerated case.

AOnly you can decide what kind of case you need. We have a dry case. We don't use Cc frosting. Eggs are cooked in the cake batter. Cupcakes last two days. We refrigerate them overnight.

cupcake purchasers are often looking for a quick fix. They want the cake now - not in an hour because it has to come to room temp before consumption.

I am also looking to open a bakery in the next year and I personally intend to purchase a refrigerated display unit.  You can set it so that it's not very cold but just cold enough to keep things fresh.  Just my 2 cents. Good luck with the bakery! I'd love to hear how it goes for you!

AThe frostings I use have egg whites and cream cheese. I do like the idea of putting the refrigerator temp so its not so cold. I just don't want to purchase such an expensive item if I may not need it. I was thinking about leaving them out and then refrigerate them over night but I wasn't sure about the frosting going bad or not.

If your item is deemed to need refrigeration by your local health department, your cooler needs to be set at 40 degrees maximum (or lower).  You can't set it at an arbitrary temperature "to keep things fresher" - either it needs refrigeration or it doesn't.

Liz

Check with your local Health Dept or whoever does your kitchen inspections.  For me it is my local Council Health Dept.  I'm not sure what it's like where you are but where I am you don't get a choice, frostings with egg white and cream cheese must be kept below 5c and when they do the inspections they bring their own thermometer and put it in all the cabinets to check the temp.