Long-Term Debt Long-term Debt Narrative (Details) (USD $)	6 Months Ended				3 Months Ended						6 Months Ended								6 Months Ended
	Jul. 01, 2012 Rate	Jul. 03, 2011	May 30, 2012	Jan. 01, 2012	Jul. 01, 2012 Repayment of Borrowings [Member]	Jul. 01, 2012 Net acquisition payments [Member]	Jul. 01, 2012 Payment of financing costs [Member]	Jul. 01, 2012 Cash collateral funding [Member]	Jul. 01, 2012 Remainder of debt proceeds [Member]	Jul. 01, 2012 Letter of Credit [Member]	Jul. 01, 2012 Prior to Cash Collateral Release [Member] Rate	Jul. 01, 2012 Carrols Restaurant Group [Member]	Jan. 01, 2012 Carrols Restaurant Group [Member]	Jul. 01, 2012 Fiesta Restaurant Group [Member]	Jan. 01, 2012 Fiesta Restaurant Group [Member]	Jul. 01, 2012 Carrols LLC [Member]	Jan. 01, 2012 Carrols LLC [Member]	Jul. 01, 2012 Letter of Credit [Member] Carrols Restaurant Group [Member]	Jul. 01, 2012 Minimum [Member] Following the Cash Collateral Release [Member] Rate	Jul. 01, 2012 Minimum [Member] Carrols Restaurant Group [Member]	Jul. 01, 2012 Maximum [Member] Following the Cash Collateral Release [Member] Rate
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Proceeds from Issuance of Senior Long-term Debt	$ 150,000,000	$ 0			$ 64,800,000	$ 12,000,000	$ 4,500,000	$ 20,000,000	$ 48,700,000
Senior Notes, Redemption Price, Year Three	105.625%
Senior Notes, Redemption Price, Year Four	102.813%
Senior Notes, Redemption Price, Year Five	100.00%
Senior Notes, Redemption Price, Year One and Two	100.00%
Senior Notes, Amount Redeemable with Proceeds from Equity Offerings	35.00%
Collateral exclusion for material subsidiaries, percentage of Senior Notes	20.00%
Line of Credit Facility, Current Borrowing Capacity	20,000,000									15.0								10,000,000
Line of Credit Facility, Alternative Base Rate, Interest Rate Margin											0.75%								2.50%		3.25%
Line of Credit Facility, Libor Rate, Interest Rate Margin											1.75%									3.50%	4.25%
Carrols Restaurant Group 11.25% Senior Secured Second Lien Notes	150,000,000											150,000,000	0	0	200,000,000
Debt Instrument, Interest Rate, Stated Percentage	11.25%
Carrols Restaurant Group Revolving Credit Facility	0															0	4,000,000
Carrols LLC Credit Facility-Term loan																0	63,375,000
Capital leases	10,927,000			1,144,000
Long-term Debt	160,927,000			268,519,000
Less: current portion	(1,028,000)			(6,553,000)
Long-term Debt, Excluding Current Maturities	159,899,000			261,966,000
Business Acquisition, Cost of Acquired Entity, Cash Paid			12,135,000
Payments of Debt Issuance Costs	5,378,000	0
Line of Credit Facility, Maximum Borrowing Capacity	25,000,000															20,000,000
Senior Notes, Cross Default Provision, Minimum Debt Principal Amount	15,000,000
Increase (Decrease) in Restricted Cash	$ 20,000,000	$ 0
Senior Credit Facility, Cash Collateral Release, Adjusted Leverage Ratio	6