Judge allows Buffalo Wild Wings to keep ‘boneless’ chicken on menu

Are boneless wings any different from chicken nuggets? A federal judge weighed in Tuesday in a lawsuit against Buffalo Wild Wings.

In a 10-page ruling, U.S. District Judge John Tharp in Illinois said the sports bar franchise can continue to call its popular menu item “boneless wings,” even though they are “essentially chicken nuggets.”

A wing lover by the name of Aimen Halim filed a lawsuit in March 2023 claiming violations of the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act over Buffalo Wild Wings’ calling them “boneless wings” instead of “chicken nuggets.” Tharp decided Tuesday there wasn’t enough meat on the bones of his argument.

“Boneless wings are not a niche product for which a consumer would need to do extensive research to figure out the truth,” Tharp wrote. “Instead, ‘boneless wings’ is a common term that has existed for over two decades.”

“Halim did not ‘drum’ up enough factual allegations to state a claim,” Tharp added. “Though he 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.'”

Still, Tharp is allowing Halim to amend his initial complaint by March 20 in case he can “provide additional facts about his experience that would demonstrate that BWW is committing a deceptive act.”

Halim said in his lawsuit that he went to a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant in January 2023 and expected to receive “wings that were deboned.” He argued that Buffalo Wild Wings’ product should be called something different, like “chicken poppers.”

Buffalo Wild Wings didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

In his ruling, Tharp cited a 2024 Ohio Supreme Court ruling on restaurants and what customers can expect when they place an order.

“As the Ohio Supreme Court recently put it, ‘[a] diner reading ‘boneless wings’ on a menu would no more believe that the restaurant was warranting the absence of bones in the items than believe that the items were made from chicken wings, just as a person eating ‘chicken fingers’ would know that he had not been served fingers,” he wrote.