Consolidated Statements Of Income - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Jan. 02, 2016	Oct. 03, 2015	Jul. 04, 2015	Apr. 04, 2015	Jan. 03, 2015	Sep. 27, 2014	Jun. 28, 2014	Mar. 29, 2014	Jan. 02, 2016	Jan. 03, 2015	Dec. 28, 2013
Income Statement [Abstract]
Net revenue	$ 405,857	$ 416,773	$ 431,428	$ 402,341	$ 439,000	$ 409,308	$ 399,596	$ 373,016	$ 1,656,399	$ 1,620,920	$ 1,504,332
Cost of sales	259,899	274,287	279,945	262,979	281,833	266,088	254,707	239,830	1,077,110	1,042,458	963,073
Gross margin	145,958	142,486	151,483	139,362	157,167	143,220	144,889	133,186	579,289	578,462	541,259
Selling, general and administrative	116,408	114,835	119,069	121,924	124,497	116,659	121,312	116,064	472,236	478,532	447,170
Settlements of certain litigation	0	2,900	2,775	0					5,675	0	0
Impairment charges									11,997	13,047	1,900
Gain on sale of route businesses, net	(545)	(501)	(74)	(793)	329	22	(297)	(1,163)	(1,913)	(1,109)	(2,590)
Gain on the revaluation of prior equity investment					(16,608)	0	0	0	0	(16,608)	0
Other expense/(income), net	1,569	115	(110)	(736)	(892)	61	501	80	838	(250)	(7,529)
Income before interest and income taxes	16,529	25,137	29,823	18,967	44,297	26,478	16,870	17,205	90,456	104,850	102,308
Interest expense, net	2,864	2,851	2,671	2,467	2,857	2,984	4,111	3,390	10,853	13,342	14,408
Income before income taxes	13,665	22,286	27,152	16,500	41,440	23,494	12,759	13,815	79,603	91,508	87,900
Income tax expense	6,652	6,557	9,758	5,918	14,572	9,809	4,584	3,326	28,885	32,291	32,297
Income from continuing operations					26,868	13,685	8,175	10,489	50,718	59,217	55,603
Income from discontinued operations, net of income tax					(626)	124,097	3,523	6,322	0	133,316	23,481
Net income	7,013	15,729	17,394	10,582	26,242	137,782	11,698	16,811	50,718	192,533	79,084
Net income/(loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests	(30)	52	65	(54)	(90)	16	21	(5)	33	(58)	364
Net income attributable to Snyder’s-Lance, Inc.	$ 7,043	$ 15,677	$ 17,329	$ 10,636	$ 26,332	$ 137,766	$ 11,677	$ 16,816	50,685	192,591	78,720
Continuing operations									$ 50,685	$ 59,275	$ 55,239
Basic earnings per share:
Continuing operations (in dollars per share)	$ 0.10	$ 0.22	$ 0.25	$ 0.15	$ 0.38	$ 0.19	$ 0.12	$ 0.15	$ 0.72	$ 0.84	$ 0.80
Discontinued operations (in dollars per share)					(0.01)	1.77	0.05	0.09	0.00	1.90	0.33
Total basic earnings per share					0.37	1.96	0.17	0.24	0.72	2.74	1.13
Diluted earnings per share:
Continuing operations (in dollars per share)	0.10	0.22	0.24	0.15	0.38	0.19	0.11	0.15	0.71	0.84	0.79
Discontinued operations (in dollars per share)					(0.01)	1.75	0.05	0.09	0.00	1.88	0.33
Total diluted earnings per share					0.37	1.94	0.16	0.24	0.71	2.72	1.12
Cash dividends declared per share	$ 0.16	$ 0.16	$ 0.16	$ 0.16	$ 0.16	$ 0.16	$ 0.16	$ 0.16	$ 0.64	$ 0.64	$ 0.64