Business Acquisitions - Consideration Transferred (Details) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands			3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Feb. 29, 2016 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Oct. 27, 2015 USD ($)	Jul. 02, 2016 USD ($) shares	Jul. 04, 2015 USD ($)	Jul. 02, 2016 USD ($) shares	Jul. 04, 2015 USD ($)	Feb. 26, 2016 $ / shares	Jan. 02, 2016 USD ($) shares
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Diamond common shares outstanding as of February 29, 2016 | shares			96,039,888		96,039,888			70,968,054
Repayment of Diamond’s outstanding debt due to change in control provisions					$ 114,125	$ 3,750
Total debt, net			$ 1,391,405		1,391,405			$ 380,842
Loss on early extinguishment of debt			$ 0	$ 0	$ 4,749	$ 0
Diamond Foods, Inc.
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Multiplied by 0.775 as per the Merger Agreement	0.775
Total Snyder's-Lance common shares issued to Diamond stockholders | shares	24,071,839
Share price (in dollars per share) | $ / shares							$ 32.34
Total stock consideration for outstanding common shares	$ 778,483
Cash consideration of $12.50 per Diamond common share outstanding as of February 29, 2016, including cash paid in lieu of fractional converted shares	388,318
Total cash and stock consideration to stockholders	1,166,801
Fair value of replacement cash awards and stock-based awards attributable to pre-acquisition service, including awards that accelerated vesting at acquisition date due to change in control provisions	28,211
Repayment of Diamond’s outstanding debt due to change in control provisions	651,044	$ 651,000
Liability for value of Dissenters' merger consideration	12,418
Total fair value of consideration transferred	1,858,474
Effective settlement of accounts payable owed by us to Diamond at acquisition date	(1,295)
Total purchase consideration	1,857,179
Total debt, net	633,200
Interest accrued	9,000
Loss on early extinguishment of debt	$ (8,800)
Conversion price (in dollars per share) | $ / shares	$ 12.50
Diamond Foods, Inc. | Diamond Foods, Inc.
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Diamond common shares outstanding as of February 29, 2016 | shares	31,062,164