Page 7 - IAV Digital Magazine #566

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Chicago Man Sues Buffalo Wild Wings Over Boneless Wings
By Eli Ong
CHICAGO (WGN) — A Chicago man has filed a class- action lawsuit against Buffalo Wild Wings, claiming the restaurant chain falsely advertises its boneless wings as the real deal, when in reality, he believes the wings are nothing more than chick- en nuggets.
According to court documents
obtained by Nexstar’s WGN, the plaintiff, Aimen Halim, filed a complaint Friday in the U.S. District Court of Northern Illinois against Buffalo Wild Wings and its parent compa- ny Inspire Brands Inc.
Halim claims Buffalo Wild Wings’ description of the product leads customers to believe their boneless wings are deboned
chicken wings made up com- pletely of chicken wing meat, when the product is actually slices of chicken breast deep fried like chicken wings, and are composi- tionally more like chicken nuggets.
This all stems back to January 2023 when Halim bought boneless wings from a Buffalo Wild Wings in Mount Prospect, Illinois and thought just
that: the boneless wings he pur- chased were exclusively made from chicken wing meat.
When Halim found out Buffalo Wild Wings’ bone- less wings weren’t deboned chicken wings, he said he would not have purchased them, or would have paid signifi- cantly less for the product.
As a result, Halim said he suffered a
financial injury due to the restau- rant’s “false and deceptive con- duct.”
Halim goes on to compare Buffalo Wild Wings to other fast food restaurant chains like Papa Johns and Domino’s in the complaint, noting that both companies sell products like Buffalo Wild Wings’ boneless wings, but they do not call them as such.
At Papa Johns, the product is called “Chicken Poppers,” while at Domino’s, they are called “bone- less chicken.”
Another part of Halim’s complaint details back- ground informa- tion behind how the practice of selling boneless wings became more common- place, where he cites a 2009 arti- cle from the New York Times.
” ... [I]n restau- rants from
Sarasota to Seattle, an improbable poul- try part is show- ing up on menus: a little chunk of chicken breast that is fried and sauced and sold, with marketer’s brio, as a “bone- less wing.” All this is happening because whole- sale chicken prices have turned upside down. The once- lowly wing is sell- ing at a premium over what has long been the gold standard of poultry parts, the skinless boneless chicken breast.” WILLIAM NEU- MAN, NEW YORK TIMES
Halim is suing for relief from viola- tion of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act (ICFA), Breach of Express Warranty, Common Law Fraud and Quasi Contract/Unjust Enrichment/Restit ution.
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