Accounting Policies - Narrative (Details) (USD $)	0 Months Ended	4 Months Ended			4 Months Ended									12 Months Ended			4 Months Ended		4 Months Ended
	Jul. 25, 2012	Sep. 18, 2012 restaurants tracts_of_land	Sep. 20, 2011	May 29, 2012	Sep. 18, 2012 Maximum Building and building improvements	Sep. 18, 2012 Maximum Equipment	Sep. 18, 2012 Maximum Computer software	Sep. 18, 2012 Minimum Building and building improvements	Sep. 18, 2012 Minimum Equipment	Sep. 18, 2012 Minimum Computer software	Sep. 18, 2012 Two former Frisch's Big Boy restaurants	Sep. 18, 2012 Golden Corral, disposal group	Sep. 20, 2011 Golden Corral, disposal group	May 29, 2012 Golden Corral, disposal group	May 16, 2012 Golden Corral, disposal group restaurants	Aug. 23, 2011 Golden Corral, disposal group restaurants	Sep. 20, 2011 Six former Golden Corral restaurants	Sep. 18, 2012 Six former Golden Corral restaurants	Sep. 20, 2011 Impairment of intangible assets Golden Corral, disposal group	Sep. 20, 2011 Closing costs included in impairment charges Golden Corral, disposal group	Sep. 18, 2012 Other operating costs	Sep. 20, 2011 Other operating costs	Sep. 18, 2012 Ohio	Sep. 20, 2011 Frisch's Big Boy	Sep. 18, 2012 Frisch's Big Boy restaurants	Sep. 18, 2012 Frisch's Big Boy Entity operated units restaurants	Sep. 18, 2012 Frisch's Big Boy Franchised units restaurants	Sep. 18, 2012 Golden Corral, segment restaurants	May 31, 2011 Golden Corral, segment restaurants
Description of the Business [Abstract]
Number of restaurants																										94	25		35
Consolidation Practices [Abstract]
Number of restaurants closed due to underperformance																6
Number of restaurants sold to Golden Corral Corporation															29
Cash and Cash Equivalents [Abstract]
Commercial paper included in cash and equivalents				$ 42,000,000
Special cash dividends declared and paid, per share	$ 9.50
Receivables [Abstract]
Receivables reserve balance		30,000		30,000
Property and Equipment [Abstract]
Estimated useful life					25 years	10 years	10 years	10 years	5 years	3 years
Number of restaurants under construction		1
Estimated remaining costs to complete construction in progress		2,040,000
Capitalized interest		8,000	16,000
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets [Abstract]
Impairment of long-lived assets		70,500	0								70,000	0	4,000,000	388,000			4,000,000		69,000	180,000				0
Carrying value of assets inlcuded in discontinued operations		3,055,000										137,000		190,000
Property Held for Sale / Investments in Land [Abstract]
Property held for sale (number of buildings and tracts of land)		8																							3			3
Property held for sale											1,904,000
Property held for sale, discontinued operation																		3,055,000
Property held for sale, surplus land (tracts of land)		2,204,000
Property held for sale, amount reclassified to current assets		1,363,000
Investments in land (tracts of land)		4
New Store Opening Costs [Abstract]
New store opening costs																					204,000	283,000
Self-Insurance [Abstract]
Self-insured workers' compensation, per claim limit																							300,000
Increase in self-insured obligations		$ (26,547)	$ 101,038
Income Taxes [Abstract]
Effective income tax rate		32.00%	23.00%