Nuggets Or Wings? Man Suing Buffalo Wild Wings Over Claims Of Deceptive Marketing

Buffalo Wild Wings is facing the heat in a class-action lawsuit alleging the popular restaurant chain engages in "false and deceptive marketing," in the promotion of its boneless wings.

The suit, brought up by a Chicago-area man, claims Buffalo Wild Wings knowingly misleads its customers by describing its product as boneless wings, which the plaintiff believes are actually glorified chicken nuggets.

"Unbeknownst to Plaintiff and other consumers, the Products are not wings at all, but instead, slices of chicken breast meat deep-fried like wings," reads the suit. "Indeed, the Products are more akin, in composition, to a chicken nugget rather than a chicken wing."

The suit claims the plaintiff, Aimen Halim, believed he was purchasing classic wings which had been deboned, only to discover that was not the case.

"Had Mr. Halim known that the products are not chicken wings, he would not have purchased them, or would have paid significantly less for them," the lawsuit said. "As a result, Mr. Halim suffered a financial injury" because of the restaurant's false and deceptive conduct.

Buffalo Wild Wings has not directly responded to the suit, but its Twitter account offered a snarky remark on Monday reminding customers that labels are not always literal.

"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 tweeted.

The debate over what constitutes a "boneless" wing is not new and has sparked outrage just below the legal level before. In 2020, a Nebraska man gave an impassioned plea during a city council meeting, saying "Nothing about boneless chicken wings actually come from the wing of a chicken. We would be disgusted if a butcher was mislabeling their cuts of meats but then we go around pretending as though the breast of the chicken is its wing."

Halim's suit references the speech, and alleges that Buffalo Wild Wings continued to neglect the claims and "refused to change its practices." Halim, and others who may join his lawsuit, are seeking a jury trial and damages, injunctive relief, restitution, and declaratory relief.