Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (USD $) In Thousands, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Jun. 29, 2014	Jun. 30, 2013	Jun. 29, 2014	Jun. 30, 2013
Revenues:
Sales	$ 424,804	$ 571,198	$ 857,434	$ 1,101,871
Franchise revenues	98,623	79,346	189,189	152,355
Revenues	523,427	650,544	1,046,623	1,254,226
Costs and expenses:
Cost of sales	347,780	473,298	721,970	934,126
General and administrative	66,982	74,795	137,348	140,105
Depreciation and amortization	39,495	38,719	81,516	90,516
Facilities action charges (income), net	883	6,377	(43,150)	9,415
Impairment of long-lived assets	0	0	332	0
Other operating expense (income), net	4,433	365	(4,261)	610
Costs and expenses	459,573	593,554	893,755	1,174,772
Operating profit	63,854	56,990	152,868	79,454
Interest expense	(13,130)	(18,964)	(26,124)	(39,928)
Loss on early extinguishment of debt	0	(21,019)	0	(21,019)
Other income (expense), net	857	48	1,380	(2,223)
Income before income taxes and noncontrolling interests	51,581	17,055	128,124	16,284
Provision for income taxes	(22,574)	(5,053)	(52,814)	(2,149)
Net income	29,007	12,002	75,310	14,135
Net loss attributable to noncontrolling interest	0	222	0	222
Net income attributable to The Wendy's Company	$ 29,007	$ 12,224	$ 75,310	$ 14,357
Earnings Per Share, Basic and Diluted [Abstract]
Basic and diluted net income per share attributable to The Wendy’s Company	$ 0.08	$ 0.03	$ 0.20	$ 0.04
Dividends per share	$ 0.05	$ 0.04	$ 0.10	$ 0.08