Delicatessen cabinets can be found in most supermarkets and are used to retail and display unwrapped chilled foods, including fresh and cooked meats, salads and pies. High operating costs for these cabinets have been regularly reported and this is mainly due to evaporation losses which occurs whilst unwrapped food is on display. One of main reasons for this has been cited to be low humidity within the display area, however, the cause of this is not clear. The role of the expansion device in the poor performance of the delicatessen cabinet is examined in this paper. This includes the results from a practical and theoretical investigation into the behaviour of thermostatic expansion valves (TEV) in the delicatessen cabinet. This showed standard expansion valve designs to be unstable and to constrain the level of humidity achieved in the display area. Alternative expansion devices are reviewed and the performance of the short tube restrictor device modelled. This has shown that this device will overcome the shortcomings of the traditional expansion devices and will significantly reduce the operating costs of the delicatessen cabinet.