Now I might be speaking out of turn, but I suggest the subscribers to this debate are all of officer rank. The huge change to quality of life is that of the junior ranks. I personally do not agree that RAF Henlow is "formica filled, down market looking motorway service station". The Cafe Ritazza sells all the food you would want to buy, ciabatas, capacino (excuse the spellings no great on foreign!).
As for the pricing regimes, they are carefully governed between the Authority (Stn) and the Supplier Partner (Contractor).
I could bore you for hours on the way PAYD is funded, but essentially the Authority contributes considerably to it. In STC the Supplier Partner gets the Core Catering Manpower for nothing. Therefore, costs are kept to a minimum.
As I said before, if the troops do not like it they will not use it!