(1) Summary of Significant Accounting Policies Corporate Strucure (Details) (Wendy's Restaurants, LLC [Member])	12 Months Ended
	Jan. 01, 2012 countries stores
Franchised restaurants [Member]
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Number of foreign countries entity operates	27
Franchisor Disclosure [Line Items]
Number of restaurants	5,177
Company owned restaurants [Member]
Franchisor Disclosure [Line Items]
Number of restaurants	1,417