Quarterly Data - Unaudited, in Thousands, except Per Share Data (Details) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Dec. 30, 2018 USD ($) $ / shares	Sep. 30, 2018 USD ($) $ / shares	Jul. 01, 2018 USD ($) $ / shares	Apr. 01, 2018 USD ($) $ / shares	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($) item $ / shares	Sep. 24, 2017 USD ($) item $ / shares	Jun. 25, 2017 USD ($) item $ / shares	Mar. 26, 2017 USD ($) item $ / shares	Dec. 30, 2018 USD ($) item $ / shares	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($) $ / shares	Dec. 25, 2016 USD ($) $ / shares
Total revenues | $	$ 373,981	$ 364,007	$ 407,959	$ 427,369	$ 467,606	$ 431,709	$ 434,778	$ 449,266	$ 1,573,316	$ 1,783,359	$ 1,713,620
Operating income (loss) | $	(8,314)	(13,990)	25,367	27,317	36,604	33,515	37,217	43,681	30,380	151,017	164,523
Net income (loss) attributable to the Company | $	$ (13,849)	$ (13,033)	$ 11,791	$ 16,737	$ 28,509	$ 21,817	$ 23,538	$ 28,428	$ 1,646	$ 102,292	$ 102,820
Basic earnings per common share | $ / shares	$ (0.44)	$ (0.41)	$ 0.37	$ 0.50	$ 0.82	$ 0.61	$ 0.66	$ 0.78	$ 0.05	$ 2.86	$ 2.76
Diluted earnings per common share | $ / shares	(0.44)	(0.41)	0.36	0.50	0.81	0.60	0.65	0.77	0.05	2.83	2.74
Dividends declared per common share | $ / shares	$ 0.225	$ 0.225	$ 0.225	$ 0.225	$ 0.225	$ 0.225	$ 0.200	$ 0.200	$ 0.90	$ 0.85	$ 0.75
After tax loss from Special charges | $	$ 19,700	$ 19,300
Unfavorable impact on diluted EPS from Special charges | $ / shares	$ 0.63	$ 0.61
After tax gain related to refranchising of restaurants | $	$ 1,300
After tax gain related to refranchising of restaurants (per share) | $ / shares	$ 0.04
Provisional Tax Act tax benefit from remeasurement of deferred tax assets, liabilities and related valuation allowances | $					$ 7,000					$ 7,020
Provisional Tax Act benefit, impact on basic and diluted EPS (in dollars per share) | $ / shares					$ 0.20
After income tax benefit from a 14th week of operation | $					$ 3,900
Favorable impact on diluted EPS from a 14th week of operations (in dollars per share) | $ / shares					$ 0.11
Number of weeks in quarter | item					14	13	13	13	13
China Operations
After tax loss from the sale of company-owned stores | $			$ 1,600
Impact on basic and diluted EPS from the sale of company-owned stores | $ / shares			$ (0.05)
Tax increase related to refranchising of stores | $			$ 2,400
Unfavorable impact on basic and diluted EPS related to refranchising of stores | $ / shares			$ 0.07
After tax loss from impairment related to company-owned stores in China currently for sale | $					$ 1,300
Unfavorable impact on basic and diluted EPS from impairment related to Company-owned stores in China currently for sale | $ / shares					$ 0.04