Description Of Business And Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies (Narrative) (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Jan. 01, 2012 years	Jan. 02, 2011	Jan. 03, 2010
Description Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Restricted cash	$ 34,117,000	$ 34,715,000
Amortization expense	333,000	333,000	335,000
Scheduled amortization expense in fiscal year one	333,000
Scheduled amortization expense in fiscal year two	333,000
Scheduled amortization expense in fiscal year three	51,000
Scheduled amortization expense in fiscal year four	0
Scheduled amortization expense in fiscal year five	0
Intangible assets carrying value	700,000	1,100,000
Capital lease assets	3,500,000	4,400,000
Accumulated amortization of capital lease assets	4,200,000	3,300,000
Depreciation and amortization expense	24,042,000	24,052,000	24,064,000
Impairment loss on long-lived assets	0	0	0
Write-off of financing costs		1,200,000	2,300,000
Proposed early refinancing fees	7,600,000
Deferred financing cost expense	3,700,000	5,000,000	7,800,000
Goodwill impairment charges	0	0	0
Capitalized software amortization expense	3,600,000	2,300,000	1,900,000
Proceeds from the sale and enhancements of developed software	2,500,000	1,900,000	2,700,000
Exposures for workers' compensation and general liability programs	1,000,000
Total insurance limits under the retention programs	110,000,000
Percentage of profit-sharing arrangements with participating stores	50.00%
Revenue reduction due to profit-sharing obligation	62,500,000	62,800,000	55,400,000
Advertising expense	28,500,000	30,200,000	33,000,000
Advertising contributions by company-owned stores	18,500,000	19,500,000	16,400,000
Advertising contributions by franchisees	165,800,000	161,400,000	131,200,000
Rent expenses	39,700,000	41,100,000	42,000,000
Recapitalization forward-starting interest rate swap agreement period (years)	5
Interest rate swap agreement, notional amount	1,250,000,000
Interest rate swap agreement, cash payment	11,500,000
Adjusted accumulated other comprehensive gain (loss) amount, interest rate swap agreement	(7,100,000)
Derivative instruments outstanding	0	0
Interest paid	85,000,000	88,800,000	99,200,000
Cash paid for income taxes	41,200,000	49,300,000	32,800,000
Minimum [Member]
Description Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Notes receivable interest rate	7.00%
Notes receivable remaining principal due period	2
Owned and non-owned automobile liabilities	500,000
Maximum [Member]
Description Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Notes receivable interest rate	12.00%
Notes receivable remaining principal due period	7
Owned and non-owned automobile liabilities	3,000,000
Cash Held For Future Interest Payment [Member]
Description Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Restricted cash	38,400,000
Cash Held In Trust [Member]
Description Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Restricted cash	41,300,000
Cash Held In Interest Reserve [Member]
Description Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Restricted cash	6,600,000
Cash Held For Capitalization Of Entities [Member]
Description Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Restricted cash	6,000,000
Other Restricted Cash [Member]
Description Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Restricted cash	300,000
Property, Plant And Equipment [Member]
Description Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Depreciation and amortization expense	20,100,000	21,500,000	21,800,000
Software [Member]
Description Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Estimated useful lives of the software, minimum	1
Estimated useful lives of the software, maximum	3
Deferred Financing Cost Asset [Member]
Description Of Business And Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Proposed early refinancing fees	$ 7,400,000