Cash and Receivables (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 30, 2018

Cash and Receivables [Abstract]

Schedule of Cash and Cash Equivalents

	Year End
	December 30, 2018		December 31, 2017
Cash and cash equivalents
Cash	$	209,177	$	171,109
Cash equivalents	222,228		338
	431,405		171,447
Restricted cash
Current
Accounts held by trustee for the securitized financing facility	29,538		28,933
Collateral supporting letters of credit	—		3,205
Trust for termination costs for former Wendy’s executives	109		289
Other	213		206
	29,860		32,633
Advertising Funds (a)	25,247		8,579
	55,107		41,212
Non-current
Trust for termination costs for former Wendy’s executives (b)	—		165
Total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash	$	486,512	$	212,824

_______________

(a) Included in “Advertising funds restricted assets.”

(b) Included in “Other assets.”

Schedule of Accounts, Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable

	Year End
	December 30, 2018			December 31, 2017
Accounts and Notes Receivable, Net
Current
Accounts receivable:
Franchisees	$	60,567		$	78,699
Other (a)	51,320			37,377
	111,887			116,076
Notes receivable from franchisees (b) (c)	2,857			2,860
	114,744			118,936
Allowance for doubtful accounts	(4,939		)	(4,546		)
	$	109,805		$	114,390
Non-current (d)
Notes receivable from franchisees (c)	$	16,322		$	17,589
Allowance for doubtful accounts (c)	(2,000		)	—
	$	14,322		$	17,589

_______________

(a) Includes income tax refund receivables of $14,475 and $26,262 as of December 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017, respectively. Additionally, 2018 includes receivables of $22,500 related to insurance coverage for the FI Case. See Note 11 for further information on our legal reserves.

(b) Includes the current portion of direct financing lease receivables of $735 and $625 as of December 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017, respectively. See Note 20 for further information.

(c) Includes a note receivable from a franchisee in Indonesia, of which $969 and $1,008 are included in current notes receivable and $2,522 and $3,789 are included in non-current notes receivable as of December 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017, respectively.

Non-current notes receivable include notes receivable from the Brazil JV totaling $12,800 as of December 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017, respectively. During 2018, the Company recorded a reserve of $2,000 on the loans outstanding to the Brazil JV. See Note 8 for further information.

Non-current notes receivable include a note receivable from a franchisee in India of $1,000 as of December 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017, respectively.

(d) Included in “Other assets.”

Allowance for Doubtful Accounts

The following is an analysis of the allowance for doubtful accounts:

	Year Ended
	2018			2017			2016
Balance at beginning of year:
Current	$	4,546		$	4,030		$	3,488
Non-current	—			26			257
Provision for doubtful accounts:
Franchisees and other	2,562			579			390
Uncollectible accounts written off, net of recoveries	(169		)	(89		)	(79		)
Balance at end of year:
Current	4,939			4,546			4,030
Non-current	2,000			—			26
Total	$	6,939		$	4,546		$	4,056