2 min read- A customer sued, arguing Buffalo Wild Wings’ “boneless wings” name is misleading because the meat is chicken breast, not deboned wings.
- The judge dismissed the claims and described “boneless wings” as a common menu term.
- Online, people are still arguing whether boneless wings are wings or just sauced-up nuggets.
It wasn’t until college that I really got into wings, mostly because I lived with wrestlers who never missed a chance to “bulk up,” and I, unfortunately, am extremely influenceable.
Flats, drumsticks, extra napkins, no regrets. I’m also very much pro-boneless when the mood strikes. I just didn’t realize they were controversial enough to go to court.
A customer in Illinois filed a lawsuit against Buffalo Wild Wings, arguing that calling the menu item “boneless wings” is misleading because the product is made with chicken breast meat, not an actual chicken wing with the bones removed. The basic complaint was that if you order boneless wings, you should be getting wings that were deboned, not sauced-up breast pieces. The customer, Aimen Halim, sought damages and claimed he would’ve skipped the order (or paid less) if he’d known what he was actually getting.
This week, a judge tossed the case out.
In his ruling, John Tharp Jr. essentially said the term “boneless wings” reads like a common menu name, not a literal promise that you’re receiving surgically de-boned wings. He also pointed to the way food language works in general: sometimes a name is more about the style than a precise anatomical description. (A reasonable person doesn’t hear “buffalo wings” and start wondering why there isn’t a buffalo involved, you know? Key word being reasonable.)
The lawsuit isn’t necessarily gone forever, though. The judge gave Halim a deadline of March 20 to file an amended complaint if he thinks he can add more facts and keep it alive.
And because we live in a world where every niche argument gets a group chat and a comment section, the internet immediately did what it does best and sounded off.
Online, the reaction was basically unanimous—and not in line with the judge’s verdict.
One commenter put it bluntly: “There’s no such thing as boneless wings. It’s a chicken nugget tossed in sauce.” Another called them “Popcorn chicken at BEST,” while you also had the wing purists showing up with the meat argument that wings are dark meat, boneless is breast meat, these are not the same thing, please stop trying.
Meanwhile, Buffalo Wild Wings leaned into the moment on social media after the court’s ruling, basically staking its flag in the ground by writing, “They’re called boneless wings and will forever be called boneless wings.”
At the end of the day, the only verdict I’m interested in is: does the order come with fries?