Employee Savings Plans (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
Jul. 29, 2016	Jul. 31, 2015	Aug. 01, 2014
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosures [Line Items]
Percentage of company match to employee contribution	25.00%	25.00%	25.00%
Percentage of company contributions that vests annually	20.00%	20.00%	20.00%
Percentage of company contribution that vests on employee's fifth anniversary of employment	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
Maximum [Member]
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosures [Line Items]
Percentage of employee's compensation matched by company	6.00%	6.00%	6.00%
401(k) Savings Plan [Member]
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosures [Line Items]
Requisite service period	90 days
Minimum age of eligible employees required	21 years
Percentage of compensation allowed to be deferred by eligible employees	50.00%
Company contribution to the plan during the period	$ 2,528	$ 2,364	$ 2,167
Non-Qualified Savings Plan [Member]
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosures [Line Items]
Percentage of compensation allowed to be deferred by eligible employees	50.00%
Percentage of eligible bonuses allowed to be deferred	100.00%
Market value of the trust assets	$ 27,764
Liability obligations to participants	27,764
Company contribution to the plan during the period	$ 296	$ 234	$ 253

Amount of contributions made by the employer to a defined contribution plan.

No definition available.

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
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- Definition

Refers to the minimum age of eligible employees required for a defined contribution plan, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

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No definition available.

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Estimated period over which an employee is required to provide service to be eligible to participate in a defined contribution plan, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

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No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	cbrl_DefinedContributionPlanRequisiteServicePeriod
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Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
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- Definition

This represents the entire liability recognized in the balance sheet that is associated with the company's non-qualified defined contribution retirement plan.

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No definition available.

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Percentage of employer's matching contribution that vests on the fifth anniversary.

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No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	cbrl_PercentageOfContributionByEmployerThatVestsOnEmployeeSFifthAnniversaryOfEmployment
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Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Percentage of eligible bonus that eligible employees can defer.

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No definition available.

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Namespace Prefix:	cbrl_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

This represents amount of the entire plan assets recognized in the balance sheet that are associated with the company's rabbi trust established for its non-qualified defined contribution plan.

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No definition available.

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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No definition available.

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Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
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- Definition

Percentage of employees' gross pay for which the employer contributes a matching contribution to a defined contribution plan.

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No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedContributionPlanEmployerMatchingContributionPercent
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Percentage employer matches of the employee's percentage contribution matched.

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No definition available.

+ Details

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Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Percentage of employer's matching contributions to a defined contribution plan that vests in a given year.

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No definition available.

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- Definition

Maximum percentage of employee gross pay the employee may contribute to a defined contribution plan.

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No definition available.

+ Details

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- Details

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- Details

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- Details

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