Buffalo Wild Wings has been named in a class-action lawsuit by a Chicago resident who accused the restaurant chain of using false and deceptive advertising on its boneless wings, which he believes are only chicken nuggets.
Court documents obtained by WGN-TV show plaintiff Aimen Halim filed the complaint on Friday in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against the restaurant chain and its parent-company Inspire Brands, which the complaint alleges “is responsible for the composition, preparation, advertising, marketing and sale of ‘Buffalo Wild Wings’ product.”
“This class action seeks to challenge the false and deceptive marketing and advertising of Buffalo Wild Wings’ Boneless Wings,” the filings read. “Specifically, the name and description of the Products (i.e., as “Boneless Wings”) leads reasonable consumers to believe the Products are actually chicken wings. ”
In other words, Halim claims people were led to believe that the defendants simply deboned the chicken wings, which would then have been comprised entirely of chicken wing meat.
A Buffalo Wild Wings spokesperson directed The Daily Wire to a tweet from the restaurant’s official account when asked for comment on the lawsuit.
“It’s true,” the tweet reads. “Our boneless wings are all white meat chicken. Our hamburgers contain no ham. Our buffalo wings are 0% buffalo.”
It’s true.
Our boneless wings are all white meat chicken.
Our hamburgers contain no ham.
Our buffalo wings are 0% buffalo.— Buffalo Wild Wings (@BWWings) March 13, 2023
Halim purchased boneless wings from a location in Mount Prospect, Illinois, in January when he made his claim about one of the restaurant’s most popular food items.
Had the plaintiff and other consumers known the truth about the wings, the lawsuit reads, they would have either paid less for the food or not purchased the poultry at all.
“As a result, Mr. Halim suffered a financial injury as a result of Defendants’ false and deceptive conduct,” the lawsuit reads.
Halim compared Buffalo Wild Wings to other food chains like Papa John’s and Domino’s in the complaint, saying that both restaurants sell boneless wings but disclose the products are made from white chicken breast meat.
Halim also referred to a New York Times article from 2009 in the complaint that reported the practice of selling boneless “wings” that are not actually wings derived from the high-flying costs of real chicken wings and the decrease in chicken breast prices.
Mike Bell, the logistics and purchasing manager for Buffalo Wild Wings, said that “basically a whole bunch of [poultry processors] are throwing their hands in the air and saying, ‘I don’t know what’s going on. We’ve never seen it this way.'”
Prices for a pound of chicken breasts — boneless and skinless — dropped nearly a full dollar compared to the rise of bone-in wings in 2020, a USDA National Retail Report showed observed by WGN-TV. However, in the last year, prices of regular boneless, skinless chicken breasts fell from $3.99 to $3.53 a pound, while whole wings have dropped from $4.29 to $2.30 per pound.
Halim seeks to represent a nationwide class and an Illinois class lawsuit on behalf of himself and other consumers, and is seeking damages, injunctive relief, restitution, declaratory relief, and all other remedies the Court deems appropriate.