Air traffic, wind direction, and turbulence are all much magnified factors on micro-haul routes. All it takes is an extra 2 minutes for each and suddenly the useful flight time is just that much shorter.

Nobody notices this on anything but a very short flight, but all it takes is one of these factors or even one piece of the service even slightly delayed by a dropped packet of something and there is no longer time for something that would have been otherwise easy.

I do agree that, in general, it would be better to at least offer drinks along with food and that on these services, one could ask on the ground for the drinks order and then serve the drink with the food. That might even permit a second drink on some services.