Long-Term Debt Long-term Debt Narrative (Details) (USD $)	9 Months Ended				3 Months Ended					9 Months Ended									9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012 Rate	Oct. 02, 2011	May 30, 2012	Jan. 01, 2012	Sep. 30, 2012 Repayment of Borrowings [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Net acquisition payments [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Payment of financing costs [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Cash collateral funding [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Remainder of debt proceeds [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Prior to Cash Collateral Release [Member] Rate	Sep. 30, 2012 Carrols Restaurant Group [Member]	Jan. 01, 2012 Carrols Restaurant Group [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Fiesta Restaurant Group [Member]	Jan. 01, 2012 Fiesta Restaurant Group [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Carrols LLC [Member]	Jan. 01, 2012 Carrols LLC [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Letter of Credit [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Letter of Credit [Member] Carrols Restaurant Group [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Minimum [Member] Following the Cash Collateral Release [Member] Rate	Sep. 30, 2012 Minimum [Member] Carrols Restaurant Group [Member]	Sep. 30, 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	$ 12,100,000	$ 4,500,000	$ 20,000,000	$ 48,600,000
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																15,000,000	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	10,677,000			1,144,000
Long-term Debt	160,677,000			268,519,000
Less: current portion	(1,047,000)			(6,553,000)
Long-term Debt, Excluding Current Maturities	159,630,000			261,966,000
Business Acquisition, Cost of Acquired Entity, Cash Paid			12,135,000
Payments of Debt Issuance Costs	5,931,000	1,821,000
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	6.00