Segment Information (Details) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
Oct. 28, 2016 USD ($) Line Segment	Oct. 30, 2015 USD ($)
Segment Information [Abstract]
Number of product lines \| Line	2
Number of reportable operating segments \| Segment	1
Revenue from External Customer [Line Items]
Revenue	$ 709,971	$ 702,629
Restaurant [Member]
Revenue from External Customer [Line Items]
Revenue	573,677	562,279
Retail [Member]
Revenue from External Customer [Line Items]
Revenue	$ 136,294	$ 140,350

The number of related and substantially integrated product lines.

No definition available.

Name:	cbrl_NumberOfProductLines
Namespace Prefix:	cbrl_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- 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.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_EntityWideInformationRevenueFromExternalCustomerLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Number of segments reported by the entity. A reportable segment is a component of an entity for which there is an accounting requirement to report separate financial information on that component in the entity's financial statements.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_NumberOfReportableSegments
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Total revenue from sale of goods and services rendered during the reporting period, in the normal course of business, reduced by sales returns and allowances, and sales discounts.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 225
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-03.1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=63488584&loc=d3e20235-122688

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SalesRevenueNet
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SegmentReportingAbstract
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ProductOrServiceAxis=cbrl_RestaurantMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ProductOrServiceAxis=cbrl_RetailMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: