Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income - USD ($) shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Oct. 01, 2016	Oct. 03, 2015	Oct. 01, 2016	Oct. 03, 2015
Income Statement [Abstract]
Net revenue	$ 588,801	$ 416,773	$ 1,661,066	$ 1,250,542
Cost of sales	375,729	274,287	1,087,557	817,211
Gross profit	213,072	142,486	573,509	433,331
Selling, general and administrative	161,107	114,835	452,815	355,828
Settlements of certain litigation	0	2,900	0	5,675
Transaction and integration related expenses	4,043	0	63,983	0
Impairment charges	507	0	1,370	0
Loss/(gain) on sale of route businesses, net	41	(501)	(650)	(1,368)
Other (income)/expense, net	(3,512)		(4,796)	(731)
Other Expenses		115
Income before interest and income taxes	50,886	25,137	60,787	73,927
Loss on early extinguishment of debt	0	0	4,749	0
Interest expense, net	9,215	2,851	23,305	7,989
Income before income taxes	41,671	22,286	32,733	65,938
Income tax expense	12,470	6,557	9,309	22,233
Net income	29,201	15,729	23,424	43,705
Net (loss)/income attributable to noncontrolling interests	(114)	52	(141)	63
Net income attributable to Snyder’s-Lance, Inc.	$ 29,315	$ 15,677	$ 23,565	$ 43,642
Basic (loss)/earnings per share (in dollars per share)	$ 0.30	$ 0.22	$ 0.26	$ 0.62
Weighted average basic shares outstanding (in shares)	95,881	70,548	90,504	70,411
Diluted (loss)/earnings per share (in dollars per share)	$ 0.30	$ 0.22	$ 0.26	$ 0.61
Weighted average diluted shares outstanding (in shares)	97,012	71,319	91,493	71,134
Cash dividends declared per share (in dollars per share)	$ 0.16	$ 0.16	$ 0.48	$ 0.48