Asset Disposals, Closure Costs and Restaurant Impairments (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2015 restaurant	Apr. 01, 2014
Property, Plant and Equipment Impairment or Disposal [Abstract]
Restaurant impairments	$ 5,913
Loss on disposal of assets	134	134
Closure costs and other	39ndls_ImpairmentClosureCostsAndOther	80ndls_ImpairmentClosureCostsAndOther
Total	$ 6,086us-gaap_GainLossOnDispositionOfAssets1	$ 214us-gaap_GainLossOnDispositionOfAssets1
Number of restaurants	8ndls_NumberOfRestaurantsImpaired

Impairment Closure Costs And Other

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- Definition

Number Of Restaurants Impaired

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

Amount of gain (loss) on sale or disposal of assets, including but not limited to property plant and equipment, intangible assets and equity in securities of subsidiaries or equity method investee.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 360

-SubTopic 10

-Section 45

-Paragraph 5

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=51824106&loc=d3e2443-110228

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- Definition

Amount of gain (loss) on sale or disposal of property, plant and equipment assets, including oil and gas property and timber property.

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- Definition

The aggregate amount of write-downs for impairments recognized during the period for long-lived assets held for abandonment, exchange or sale.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 230

-SubTopic 10

-Section 45

-Paragraph 28

-Subparagraph (b)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=56944662&loc=d3e3602-108585

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 360

-SubTopic 10

-Section 45

-Paragraph 15

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=51824106&loc=d3e2611-110228

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