Impairment Charges

9 Months Ended

Oct. 02, 2011

Impairment Charges [Abstract]

Asset Impairment Charges [Text Block]

Impairment Charges

During the nine months ended October 2, 2011, the Company identified one Bistro restaurant and three Pei Wei restaurants with negative historical restaurant-level cash flows as part of its quarterly long-lived asset impairment analysis. Based on discounted future cash flows, the asset carrying value exceeded the fair value of the long-lived assets at these restaurants. As a result, during the three and nine months ended October 2, 2011, the Company recognized non-cash impairment charges of $4.8 million ($3.5 million net of tax) and $5.4 million ($3.9 million net of tax), respectively, in depreciation and amortization expense in the consolidated statements of income, related to the full write-off of the carrying value of the long-lived assets at these restaurants which continue to operate. No impairment charges were recorded during the three and nine months ended October 3, 2010.