Boneless 'Wings' At Buffalo Wild Wings Are False Advertising: Lawsuit

MOUNT PROSPECT, IL — Citing that he and other consumers have "suffered injury" due to false advertising regarding purported chicken wings purchased at Buffalo Wild Wings, a Chicago man is suing the restaurant chain.

In a 22-page class-action lawsuit filed last week in the U.S. District Court of Northern Illinois, Aimen Halim claims Buffalo Wild Wings is continuing to use false and deceptive marketing in promoting its boneless wings.

In the lawsuit, Halim, who purchased wings from a Mount Prospect location in January, said advertising by Buffalo Wild Wings "leads reasonable consumers to believe the products are actually chicken wings." Halim, represented by Los Angeles-based Treehouse Law, claims the boneless wings are not actually wings, but instead slices of chicken breast meat deep-fried like wings. The lawsuit describes the boneless wings as being more akin to a chicken nugget.

The lawsuit notes that competitors of Buffalo Wild Wings accurately name their products "boneless chicken" or "chicken poppers," with no reference to wings to "prevent consumers from being misled." Halim says that if he knew the product weren't actually wings, he wouldn't have purchased them or paid less money for them. Halim's lawyers argue their client "suffered a financial injury" as a result of the false advertising.

"We believe this is a straight-forward case and look forward to representing Mr. Halim and other consumers in this case against Buffalo Wild Wings," Ruhandy Glezakos, a lawyer for Halim, said in a statement on Monday reports New York Times.

Buffalo Wild Wings has not commented specifically on the lawsuit, but did send out a tweet Monday seemingly referring to it.

This isn't the first time Buffalo Wild Wings, and boneless wings in general, have come under fire for the way the wings are marketed. In 2020, a man in Lincoln, Nebraska, addressed his city council on the matter, proposing the city remove the name "boneless wings" from menus.

Last month, The Associated Press reported that many restaurants now offer boneless wings versus traditional bone-in wings because it's more cost-effective. The National Chicken Council, citing the U.S. Department of Agriculture, told AP that the average price for prepared "boneless wings" is $4.99 a pound, compared with $8.38 a pound for bone-in wings.

The Buffalo Wild Wings lawsuit isn't the first time in recent months that a resident has filed suit against a major company alleging it was misleading consumers.

In November, a woman filed a suit against Chicago-based Kraft Heinz accusing it of fraud, warranty breaches, and violation of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and Consumer Fraud Acts in other states. The $5 million lawsuit alleges the company’s Velveeta-brand microwaveable pasta and cheese cups take longer to prepare than the three-and-a-half minutes advertised.

In January, a Chicago woman filed a class action lawsuit against Fireball Whisky's parent company, alleging the company was misleading consumers by selling a similar product in 99-cent bottles that contains no actual whiskey.