Accounting Policies - The effect of the adoption of ASC 606 on Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2018	Mar. 31, 2017
Revenue, Initial Application Period Cumulative Effect Transition [Line Items]
Franchise revenues	$ 155,313	$ 154,725
Franchise expenses	81,872	70,167
Income before income tax provision	22,711	26,009
Income tax provision	(5,638)	(10,414)
Net income	$ 17,073	$ 15,595
Net income available to common stockholders per share:
Net income per common share - basic (USD per share)	$ 0.93	$ 0.87
Net income per common share - diluted (USD per share)	$ 0.92	$ 0.86
As Reported
Revenue, Initial Application Period Cumulative Effect Transition [Line Items]
Franchise revenues		$ 119,438
Franchise expenses		36,664
Income before income tax provision		24,225
Income tax provision		(9,862)
Net income		$ 14,363
Net income available to common stockholders per share:
Net income per common share - basic (USD per share)		$ 0.80
Net income per common share - diluted (USD per share)		$ 0.79
Accounting Standards Update 2014-09 | Adjustments/Reclassifications Due to ASC 606 adoption
Revenue, Initial Application Period Cumulative Effect Transition [Line Items]
Franchise revenues		$ 35,287
Franchise expenses		33,503
Income before income tax provision		1,784
Income tax provision		(552)
Net income		$ 1,232
Net income available to common stockholders per share:
Net income per common share - basic (USD per share)
Net income per common share - diluted (USD per share)
Applebee's | Accounting Standards Update 2014-09 | Adjustments/Reclassifications Due to ASC 606 adoption
Revenue, Initial Application Period Cumulative Effect Transition [Line Items]
Franchise revenues		$ 33,500
Applebee's | Accounting Standards Update 2014-09, Change In Method Of Recognizing Franchise And Development Fees | Adjustments/Reclassifications Due to ASC 606 adoption
Revenue, Initial Application Period Cumulative Effect Transition [Line Items]
Franchise revenues		$ 1,800