The long-standing kitchen-table debate over whether boneless wings are just chicken nuggets was just put to rest, at least in the eyes of the law: Bone in or bone out, they are all wings.
It all started in 2023 after a Chicago man, Aimen Halim, sued Buffalo Wild Wings, claiming he was deceived by the restaurant chain’s marketing when he ordered boneless wings. That saga concluded this week after a judge ruled in Buffalo Wild Wings’ favor.
“Halim sued BWW over his confusion, but his complaint has no meat on its bones,” Judge John J. Tharp Jr. of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois penned in his ruling. “Halim does not plausibly allege that reasonable consumers are deceived by boneless wings, so he has failed to state a plausible claim for relief.”
Halim brought a complaint against Buffalo Wild Wings after visiting a restaurant in Mt. Prospect, Ill., in Jan. 2023. After ordering boneless wings, Halim was surprised to discover that what he had ordered was not deboned wing meat. The boneless wings—which come hand-spun in a selection of sauces or dry seasonings ranging from mild to “wild” or “blazin’” hot—are in fact made with chicken breast rather than deboned wing meat.
While it is unclear how Halim learned the source of the meat in his meal, his findings led him to file a lawsuit against Buffalo Wild Wings for violating the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act. He claims the restaurant chain’s use of the phrase “boneless wings” to describe breast meat is fraudulent.
But Judge Tharp refuted that claim, indulging in a few other jokes in his ruling. He wrote: “Halim did not ‘drum’ up enough factual allegations to state a claim.”
Buffalo Wild Wings did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment. An attorney for Halim also did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
A blazin’ hot wing debate
The plaintiff filed a nationwide class action lawsuit on behalf of consumers he believes were duped into buying boneless wings that were not made from wing meat. He sought damages and injunctive relief, among other remedies, from the restaurant chain.
The initial complaint said Halim doesn’t value chicken breast meat as much as wing meat and that he would have either paid less or not at all for the item if he had known.
However, at the end of his ruling, Judge Tharp gave the plaintiff the opportunity to amend his complaint by March 20, though not without some doubt. “It is difficult to imagine that Halim can provide additional facts about his experience that would demonstrate that BWW is committing a deceptive act by calling its nuggets ‘boneless wings,’” Judge Tharp wrote.
The initial complaint references competitors of Buffalo Wild Wings that sell similar items but don’t label them as boneless wings, instead using names such as “boneless chicken” or “chicken poppers” to avoid misleading advertising. Buffalo Wild Wings describes its boneless wings as “juicy all-white chicken” on its website, but doesn’t note the exact type of meat used in the item. Competitors like Applebee’s and Chili’s, which sell boneless wings, also don’t specify the type of meat present in their products.
The boneless wing debate erupted in 2023 after the suit was filed. Passionate wing fans took to Reddit and other social media platforms to debate the legitimacy of boneless chicken, with many comparing the product to chicken nuggets.
One competitor, the Berwyn Heights, Md.–based Atomic Wings, published a blog post in September 2023 titled “Are Boneless Wings Just Chicken Nuggets?” “As bona fide wing experts, we can’t disagree more,” the post read; it featured a detailed breakdown of the differences between boneless wings and chicken nuggets.
