US judge says lawsuit over Buffalo Wild Wings ‘boneless wings’ lacks meat | Illinois

A customer who sued the US restaurant chain Buffalo Wild Wings after finding out their “boneless wings” were not in fact made of wings has been told by a US judge that his claim has “has no meat on its bones”.

Buffalo Wild Wings can continue using the term “boneless wings” on its menu even though the product is “essentially chicken nuggets”, John Tharp, a district judge, ruled, dismissing a lawsuit that claimed the chain was misleading customers.

The decision, issued on Tuesday, was in response to a 2023 lawsuit filed in Illinois against Buffalo Wild Wings by customer Aimen Halim, who argued that the restaurant chain was violating the Illinois consumer fraud act and was misleading customers by marketing chicken breast pieces as “boneless wings”. He sought roughly $10m in damages.

“Halim does not plausibly allege that reasonable consumers are deceived by boneless wings, so he has failed to state a plausible claim for relief,” the judge wrote.

Tharp noted that “boneless wings” are “not a niche product for which a consumer would need to do extensive research to figure out the truth” but said that instead, “‘boneless wings’ was a common term that had existed for over two decades.

Tharp described boneless wings as “essentially chicken nuggets: pieces of chicken breast meat, deep-fried and tossed in whatever sauce or dry seasoning the customer wants”.

Tharp wrote that though Halim has “standing to bring the claim because he plausibly alleged economic injury” he “does not plausibly allege that reasonable consumers are fooled by Buffalo Wild Wings’ use of the term ‘boneless wings’”.

According to the ruling, Buffalo Wild Wings had argued that a reasonable consumer “would not be misled by the term ‘boneless wings;’ because context clues make clear that the nuggets cannot be made of wing meat”.

Tharp, in his order, wrote that “words can have multiple meanings” adding that “Indeed, the term ‘buffalo wing’ refers to the type of sauce on the wing, rather than indicating it is made of buffalo meat”.

He wrote later in the order that “a reasonable consumer would not think that BWW’s boneless wings were truly deboned chicken wings, reconstituted into some sort of Franken-wing”.

Halim purchased the boneless wings from Buffalo Wild Wings in January 2023, and filed his lawsuit against the company on 10 March of that year, arguing that the name and description of the boneless wings “leads reasonable consumers to believe the products are actually chicken wings.”

The product, Halim argued, is “more akin, in composition, to a chicken nugget rather than a chicken wing”, and said it was “false advertising” that “should not be permitted”.

Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Buffalo Wild Wings posted a statement on social media that read: “It’s true. Our boneless wings are all white meat chicken. Our hamburgers contain no ham. Our buffalo wings are 0% buffalo.”

In his order on Tuesday, Tharp noted that Halim had asked for the opportunity to amend his complaint. Tharp has given Halim until 20 March to do so.

Attorneys for both sides did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A representative for Buffalo Wild Wings also did not immediately respond.