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Income Taxes
9 Months Ended
Sep. 27, 2018
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]  
Income Taxes
INCOME TAXES
Uncertain Tax Positions—The Company is subject to taxation in the U.S. and various states.  The Company has established a contingency reserve for material, known tax exposures.  The Company’s reserve reflects management’s judgment as to the resolution of the issues involved if subject to judicial review or other settlement.  While the Company believes its reserves are adequate to cover reasonably expected tax risks, there can be no assurance that, in all instances, an issue raised by a tax authority will be resolved at a financial cost that does not exceed its related reserve.  With respect to the reserve, the Company’s income tax expense would include (i) any changes in tax reserves arising from material changes during the period in the facts and circumstances (i.e., new information) surrounding a tax issue and (ii) any difference from the Company’s tax position as recorded in the financial statements and the final resolution of a tax issue during the period.  Such resolution could materially increase or decrease income tax expense in the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements in future periods and could impact operating cash flows.
Unrecognized tax benefits represent the aggregate tax effect of differences between tax return positions and the amounts otherwise recognized in the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.  The total amount of unrecognized tax benefits as of September 27, 2018 and December 28, 2017, was $0.0 million and $0.3 million, respectively, excluding accrued interest and penalties, which if recognized would affect the effective tax rate.  The Company recognizes interest and penalties with respect to unrecognized tax benefits in income tax expense in the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income and records the liability in income taxes payable in the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. The Company recognized an inconsequential amount in interest and penalties during the three and nine months ended September 27, 2018 and September 28, 2017, respectively. The reserve decreased by $0.3 million to $0.0 million as of September 27, 2018 due to the expiration of certain statutes of limitations. 
Tax Reform—On December 22, 2017, the U.S. government enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “Tax Act”) which makes broad and complex changes to the U.S. tax code that will affect the Company’s fiscal year ending December 27, 2018, including, but not limited to, (1) reducing the U.S. federal corporate tax rate, (2) allowing full expensing of qualified property, (3) creating a new limitation on deductible interest expense, (4) changing rules related to uses and limitations of net operating loss carryforwards created in tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, and (5) limiting the amount of compensation that can be deducted for highly compensated officers by terminating the exclusion of performance-based compensation from the $1 million per employee, per year limitation.  Following the enactment of the Tax Act, the SEC staff issued SAB 118 which provides guidance on accounting for the tax effects of the Tax Act. SAB 118 provides a measurement period that should not extend beyond one year from the Tax Act enactment date for companies to complete the accounting under ASC 740. While the Company is able to make a reasonable estimate of the impact of the reduction in the corporate tax rate, the Company’s accounting for various elements of the Tax Act may be affected by other related analysis including, but not limited to, exclusion of performance-based compensation in excess of the threshold, bonus depreciation that will allow for immediate expensing of qualified property and the state tax effect of adjustments made to federal temporary differences. As such, the impact of the Tax Act is an estimate pending further information and the analysis noted. The Company expects to finalize these estimates by the end of its 2018 fiscal year.
Tax Receivable Agreement—Subsequent to the issuance of the December 28, 2017 financial statements, an immaterial error was identified within the payable to the founding members under the TRA related to the Company's application of tax reform and the federal tax rate applied to the 2018 TRA payment for the 2017 fiscal year. In the nine months ended September 27, 2018, the Company recorded a loss within the gain (loss) on re-measurement of the payable to founding members under the TRA and a corresponding increase in the payable to founding members under the TRA of $8.6 million as well as an increase to deferred tax assets and a decrease to deferred tax expense of approximately $2.2 million related to the correction of the immaterial error. The error does not impact the amount of cash TRA payments made to the founding members for any historical period, the timing of those payments, or future calculations of payments due under the TRA.
Changes in the Company’s Effective Tax Rate—The Company’s effective tax rate increased from 5.4% for the nine months ended September 28, 2017 to 55.3% for the nine months ended September 27, 2018 primarily due to tax expense recorded in the nine months ended September 27, 2018 related to the net decrease in the Company's deferred rate due to a change in state tax law regarding income sourcing and the permanent difference between the allowable deduction for stock based compensation for tax purposes (valued based upon the stock price at vesting) and book purposes (valued based upon the stock price at grant) due to the decline in the Company’s stock price subsequent to the grant of the shares, partially offset by revised state tax apportionment rates following the completion of the Company's 2017 tax return. This rate increase was partially offset by a 13.5% decrease in the Company’s current rate following the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act by the US government on December 22, 2017. The Company's current blended state and federal rate is 25.6% as of September 27, 2018 as compared to 38.6% as of September 28, 2017.