Number of operating segments. An operating segment is a component of an enterprise: (a) that engages in business activities from which it may earn revenues and incur expenses (including revenues and expenses relating to transactions with other components of the same enterprise), (b) whose operating results are regularly reviewed by the enterprise's chief operating decision maker to make decisions about resources to be allocated to the segment and assess its performance, and (c) for which discrete financial information is available. An operating segment may engage in business activities for which it has yet to earn revenues, for example, start-up operations may be operating segments before earning revenues.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 280
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 18
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120311839&loc=d3e8672-108599

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

Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Business (Details)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 29, 2020 state segment restaurant	Dec. 31, 2019 restaurant	Jan. 01, 2019 restaurant
Description of business and summary of significant accoutning policies
Number of states in which Noodles & Company operates \| state	29
Number of operating segments \| segment	1
Number of reportable segments \| segment	1
Company-owned
Description of business and summary of significant accoutning policies
Number of restaurants \| restaurant	378
Franchise
Description of business and summary of significant accoutning policies
Number of restaurants \| restaurant	76	68	65