Yes, but they don't have to - it depends on what you're trying to accomplish. Let me give you a couple of examples:

A month or so ago I took a 'direct' AUS-BOS that departing at 4:30pm arriving at around 11pm with a 40 minute stop in DFW. They would have loaded the flight at around 4pm, and by the time I'd collected a bag and a rental car it was midnight local time. Presumably I'm now expected to buy a sandwich shortly after lunch that will be 'dinner'? Or I buy the $5 bag of chips.

Another trip I take from time to time is AUS-SJC, leaving at about 7am with a return at around 5:30pm, both 3:30 flights. The outbound is a pain, the return, particularly if I'm short of time, is a nightmare because the catering in SJC is hopelessly inadequate for the volume of travelers and totally without competition, with the result the food is overpriced and flat out bad. $20 in SJC gets you nothing you'd think of as a good deal, even if you have time to eat it.

The AUS-SJC route in particular is heavy on business travellers doing much the same itinery as me - it's one of those where they call for EXP & PLT and half the flight steps forward. I'm certain it's a route on which American can put back the service, better yet make a feature of the food on the evening return and a better ASP so they come out ahead, because enough people have enough discretion to pay for the service. Alternatively, anyone want to go into the airline business, because you could probably build a decent business on that route alone?