I can't help but wonder if we've seen this movie before?
Remember the year or two in the run up to BoB being launched in ET? Meals/snacks served in ET were significantly downgraded and quite obviously the cost cutting axe had been brought down hard on them. All because of "successful customer trials" of course.
The changes were kept long enough to hack off a significant chunk of BAs customers. Then BoB was launched because, of course, customers had fed back they wanted the opportunity to pay for a more premium meal.
Are we seeing a similar tactic being played out here? Downgrade/cheapen the CW meal offering. Then twist the feedback into a reason to give passengers the opportunity to pay for something decent (which you expect included in a plane journey which costs several thousand £s). We get to a place where BA offer a two tier meal offering in CW. A bare basic, fairly bland and unappetising standard offer which is included in the ticket price. Or in MMB you can pay extra for a decent meal.
In much the same way when passengers without status look at the seat map a few weeks before departure and see very few seats available to chose from. They don't want a dampener put on their dream holiday/trip of a lifetime/once in a blue moon business class trip by being split up from their travel companion(s) so they shell out not insignificant sums of money to secure seats together. Will BA be hoping a significant amount of CW passengers won't want a dampener put on the flight they’ve shelled out £2000 plus for by being served up an bland, unappetising, insubstantial meal so they are happy to stump up an extra £40-£50 for the "premium meal option"?
I enjoy travelling CW. For an infrequent leisure traveller who hadn't had their backside in a business class plane seat, be that LH or SH, until their early 30s it's a real luxury. Maybe it's my perception, some misty eyed nostalgia at play but I can't help but feel the quality of the meals in CW has slid in the last year to 18 months. The presentation is nice. The side salad, the bread roll, the plates and cutlery, the glass of champagne or wine at the side etc etc. For a lot of the main meals though I can't help but feel if you were flying in WT and the exact same meal was served in a metal ashet on a plastic tray you wouldn't bat an eyelid. You'd think it was decent, especially the curries, but you would rarely be raving about it.