US judge says lawsuit over Buffalo Wild Wings ‘boneless wings’ lacks meat | Restaurants
A customer who sued US restaurant chain Buffalo Wild Wings after learning that its “boneless wings” were not actually made from wings has been told by a US judge that his claim “has no meat on its bones”.
District Judge John Tharp ruled that Buffalo Wild Wings can continue to use the term “boneless wings” on its menu even though the product is “essentially chicken pieces,” dismissing a lawsuit that claimed the chain misled customers.
The decision, issued Tuesday, comes in response to a 2023 lawsuit filed against Buffalo Wild Wings in Illinois by customer Aimen Halim, who alleged that the restaurant chain violated Illinois consumer fraud law and misled customers by marketing chicken breast pieces as “boneless wings.” “He demanded approximately 10 million dollars in damages.”
“Halim does not plausibly allege that reasonable consumers were deceived by boneless wings, so he cannot claim reasonable damages,” the judge wrote.
Tharp noted that “boneless wings” “are not a niche product for which the consumer would need to do extensive research to understand the truth,” but instead said that “‘boneless wings’ is a common term that has been around for over two decades.”
Tharp described boneless wings as “essentially chicken pieces: chunks of chicken breast meat deep-fried and mixed with whatever sauce or dry seasoning the customer desires.”
Tharp wrote that although Halim “had the right to assert a plausible claim of economic injury,” he “did not plausibly allege that reasonable consumers were deceived by Buffalo Wild Wings’ use of the term ‘boneless wings.'”
According to the decision, Buffalo Wild Wings argues that a reasonable consumer “will not be misled by the term ‘boneless wings,’ as context clues make clear that the nuggets cannot be made from wing meat.”
Tharp stated that “words can have more than one meaning” depending on their order and said, “In fact, the term ‘buffalo wing’ refers to the type of sauce on the wing rather than stating that it is made of buffalo meat.”
He later wrote: “A reasonable consumer would not think that BWW’s boneless wings are really boneless chicken wings and have been recreated into a sort of Franken wing shape.”
Halim purchased the boneless wings from Buffalo Wild Wings in January 2023 and filed a lawsuit against the company on March 10 of that year, arguing that the name and description of the boneless wings “led reasonable consumers to believe that the products were actually chicken wings.”
Halim argued that the product was “more similar to chicken nuggets than chicken nuggets in terms of composition” and said it was “false advertising” that “should not be allowed”.
Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Buffalo Wild Wings published a statement “It’s true. Our boneless wings are all white meat chicken. Our burgers do not contain ham. 0 percent of our buffalo wings are buffalo,” he wrote on social media.
Tharp noted in Tuesday’s order that Halim wanted the opportunity to amend his complaint. Tharp gave Halim until March 20 to do so.
Lawyers for both sides did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A representative for Buffalo Wild Wings also did not immediately respond.
