I'm beginning to see a huge opportunity here to establish retail outlets close to gates, selling quality packaged mealettes at a price lower than that of the airlines. These would be attractive to pax who know that, when the time comes on board, the money that they would need to pay for their coffee/croissant is in their bag out of reach in the overhead or buried deeply beneath the seat in front.
Come to think of it, why don't the airlines establish such outlets AT the gates to avoid the need for the onboard money scramble - although they would still need to clear up the mess?
Then they could also modulate the price of the meals to reflect competitive pressures, even giving them away as promotions under certain circumstances.
Come to think of it, isn't that just what BA did for its catering in its early days? Didn't last long though......what comes around, goes around!