Quarterly Financial Information (Unaudited) (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Jan. 01, 2017	Oct. 02, 2016	Jul. 03, 2016	Apr. 03, 2016	Jan. 03, 2016	Sep. 27, 2015	Jun. 28, 2015	Mar. 29, 2015	Jan. 01, 2017	Jan. 03, 2016	Dec. 28, 2014
Quarterly Financial Data Table [Abstract]
Revenues	$ 309,901	$ 364,012	$ 382,718	$ 378,787	$ 464,365	$ 464,629	$ 489,534	$ 451,769	$ 1,435,418	$ 1,870,297	$ 1,998,502
Cost of sales	140,865	186,546	202,554	214,736	272,316	291,524	315,122	305,111	744,701	1,184,073	1,355,086
Operating profit	79,215	106,088	65,648	63,829	116,312	55,939	64,308	37,911	314,780	274,470	242,588
Income from continuing operations					88,681	8,323	24,825	18,150	129,624	139,979	116,424
Net income (loss) from discontinued operations					(2,825)	(739)	15,370	9,357	0	21,163	5,010
Net income	$ 28,891	$ 48,890	$ 26,480	$ 25,363	$ 85,856	$ 7,584	$ 40,195	$ 27,507	$ 129,624	$ 161,142	$ 121,434
Basic income (loss) per share:
Continuing operations					$ 0.32	$ 0.03	$ 0.07	$ 0.05	$ 0.49	$ 0.43	$ 0.31
Discontinued operations					(0.01)	0.00	0.04	0.03	0.00	0.07	0.01
Basic income per share	$ 0.11	$ 0.19	$ 0.10	$ 0.09	0.31	0.03	0.11	0.08	0.49	0.50	0.33
Diluted income (loss) per share:
Continuing operations					0.32	0.03	0.07	0.05	0.49	0.43	0.31
Discontinued operations					(0.01)	0.00	0.04	0.03	0.00	0.06	0.01
Diluted income per share	$ 0.11	$ 0.18	$ 0.10	$ 0.09	$ 0.31	$ 0.03	$ 0.11	$ 0.07	$ 0.49	$ 0.49	$ 0.32
System optimization gains, net	$ 23,825	$ 37,756		$ 8,426	$ 59,258		$ 15,654		$ 71,931	$ 74,009	$ 91,510
Reorganization and realignment costs	2,217	$ 2,129	$ 2,487	3,250	5,264	$ 5,754	6,279	$ 4,613	10,083	21,910	31,903
Impairment of long-lived assets	$ 3,250		$ 5,525	7,105	11,533		10,018		16,241	25,001	19,613
Gain (Loss) on Sale of Loans and Leases				$ 11,606
Loss on early extinguishment of debt							$ (7,295)		$ 0	$ (7,295)	$ 0
Arby's Restaurant Group, Inc [Member]
Diluted income (loss) per share:
Distributions, including dividends					$ 54,911