Makers of TGI Fridays Onion Rings Snacks hit with a lawsuit over claims they do not contain real onions

• A man sued Inventure Foods, makers of TGI Fridays Onion Ring Snacks, over their onion content.
• The Illinois man said they only have onion powder, not real onions.
• The lawsuit was the latest filed against the Utz Brands subsidiary over their TGI Fridays snacks.

A customer is suing the company behind TGI Fridays Onion Rings Snacks, which are sold in grocery stores and supermarkets.

The lawsuit was filed by Daniel Hiltz, of Sandwich, Illinois, against Inventure Foods, a subsidiary of Utz Brands, in US District Court in the Northern District of Illinois.

Hiltz alleged in the suit that the snack doesn't contain real onions and is misleading customers.

"I think it's a pretty simple type of case. The product is represented as one thing on the front, and, on the back, is truthfully what it is," said Spencer Sheehan, of New York-based law firm Sheehan & Associates, who is representing Hiltz.

An Utz Brands spokesperson declined to comment on a pending lawsuit. Sheehan last week filed a waiver of service document, which said Cozen O'Connor, of Chicago, would be representing Inventure Foods.

The lawsuit marked the latest in a series of class-action complaints against Inventure Foods over the contents of its snacks.

Sheehan filed a similar complaint with plaintiff Megan Nason in US District Court in the Southern District of New York in December 2020. That suit said the company's TGI Fridays Mozzarella Sticks Snacks contain cheddar, not mozzarella cheese. That case was dismissed in May, according to court filings.

"I'm regularly contacted by individuals with issues of potentially misleading labeling," Sheehan said. "Most of the time, it's not anything that you can do anything about."

In seeking to dismiss the Mozzarella Sticks Snacks case, a lawyer representing Inventure Foods wrote: "On these allegations, no reasonable consumer would be misled by the subject labeling to believe that inside the package was the same 'quintessential bar food' you may purchase at a local restaurant."

The Onion Rings Snacks lawsuit listed the snack's ingredients as they were printed on the back of the packaging. Onion powder, which is made from parts of dehydrated onions, was the fourth ingredient listed, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit said onion powder has "a flavor ten times stronger than real onions," but it "lacks the depth of real onion flavor."

"Consumers will incorrectly believe the faux-onion taste is due to having more onion ingredients when this is not true," the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit called into question the wording of the Onion Ring Snacks label, which read: "Onion Rings" in all-caps, with a smaller "Snacks" underneath it. Below that, it said, "Original." And, in even smaller text, it said "Natural and Artificially Flavored."

The lawsuit says: "Thought the product's front label states 'Natural and Artificially Flavored,' this is in a very small font size, and difficult for consumers to view. Moreover, 'Natural and Artificially Flavored' fails to tell consumers the product substitutes onion power for real onions."

Their first response to the lawsuit is due in October, per a court filing.