Discontinued Operations (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended																12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 30, 2012		Sep. 30, 2012		Jul. 01, 2012		Apr. 01, 2012		Jan. 01, 2012		Oct. 02, 2011		Jul. 03, 2011		Apr. 03, 2011		Dec. 30, 2012	Jan. 01, 2012	Jan. 02, 2011	Jul. 31, 2011 Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc [Member]	Dec. 30, 2012 Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc [Member]	Jan. 01, 2012 Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc [Member]	Jan. 02, 2011 Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc [Member]	Jan. 01, 2012 Income (Loss) from Discontinued Operations [Member] Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc [Member]	Dec. 30, 2012 Other Liabilities [Member] Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc [Member]	Jan. 01, 2012 Deferred Bonus [Member] Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc [Member]	Jan. 01, 2012 Type of Deferred Compensation, All Types [Domain] Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc [Member]	Jan. 01, 2012 Other Expense [Member] Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc [Member]	Jan. 01, 2012 Other Income (Expense), Net [Member] Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc [Member]	Jan. 01, 2012 Deferred taxes and other assets [Member] Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc [Member]
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Income from discontinued operations	$ 979	[1],[2]	$ 530	[1],[2],[3]	$ 0	[1],[3]	$ 0	[1],[4]	$ (306)	[5]	$ (6,510)	[5]	$ (108)	[5]	$ (1,113)	[5]					$ 1,509	$ (8,037)	$ (22,436)
Date of Disposal																				7/4/2011
Percentage of Stock Divested																				100.00%
Proceeds from sale of Arby's, net																	0	97,925	0	130,000
Proceeds from Divestiture of Business, Percentage of Buyer Stock Received																				18.50%
Noncash or Part Noncash Divestiture, Amount of Consideration Received																				19,000
Noncash or Part Noncash Acquisition, Debt Assumed																				190000
Gains (Losses) on Sales of Assets																					1,044	(930)	13,114
Discontinued Operations Net Income (Loss) From Discontinued Operations																	1,951	762	(22,436)		1,951	762	(22,436)
Transaction related costs																						11,500
Revenues																					0	546,453	1,040,975
Discontinued Operation, Amount of Other Income (Loss) from Disposition of Discontinued Operations, before Income Tax																					907
Loss from discontinued operations, net of income taxes:
Income (loss) from discontinued operations before income taxes																						1,692	(35,550)	4,279	(2,112)	(704)	529	(300)
Loss on disposal of discontinued operations, net of income taxes																	(442)	(8,799)	0		(442)	(8,799)	0
Discontinued Operation, Gain (Loss) from Disposal of Discontinued Operation, before Income Tax																						5,227
Post Closing Purchase Price Adjustments																						14,800
Discontinued Operation, Tax Effect of Income (Loss) from Disposal of Discontinued Operation																						$ 3,572							$ 5,524	$ 1,952

[1] Operating profit in 2012 was materially affected by facilities relocation costs and other transactions and impairment of long-lived assets. The impact of facilities relocation costs and other transactions on net income (loss) attributable to The Wendy’s Company for the first, second, third and fourth quarters of 2012 was $3,808, $6,164, $7,066 and $8,311, respectively, after income tax benefits of $2,335, $3,824, $4,364 and $5,159, respectively (see Note 17 for additional information). The impact of the impairment of long-lived assets on net income (loss) attributable to The Wendy’s Company during the first, second and fourth quarters of 2012 was $2,783, $2,018 and $8,216, respectively, after income tax benefits of $1,728, $1,252 and $5,100, respectively (see Note 18 for additional information).

[2] (Loss) income from continuing operations was materially affected during the third and fourth quarters of 2012 by corrections related to prior years’ tax matters which had an effect of increasing our benefit from income taxes by $2,181 and $5,439, respectively. Income from discontinued operations was also affected during the third quarter of 2012 by such corrections which had an effect of increasing our benefit from income taxes by $580. See Notes 2 and 14 for additional information.

[3] Net loss attributable to The Wendy’s Company was materially affected during the second and third quarters of 2012 by losses on the early extinguishment of debt of $15,621 and $30,926, respectively, after income tax benefits of $9,574 and $18,955, respectively. See Note 12 for additional information.

[4] Net income attributable to The Wendy’s Company was materially affected during the first quarter of 2012 by a $17,978 gain on the sale of our investment in Jurlique. As a result of the sale, we have reflected net income attributable to noncontrolling interests of $2,384. See Note 8 for additional information.

[5] The operating profit was materially affected by facilities relocation costs and other transactions in each of the 2011 quarters and impairment of long-lived assets in the first and fourth quarters of 2011. The impact of facilities relocation costs and other transactions on net (loss) income for the first, second, third and fourth quarters of 2011 was $1,178, $3,149, $14,899 and $9,288, respectively, after income tax benefits of $706, $1,890, $8,940 and $5,661, respectively. The impact of the impairment of long-lived assets on net (loss) income for the first and fourth quarters of 2011 was $4,865 and $2,847, respectively, after income tax benefits of $3,032 and $1,774, respectively.