Intangible Assets (Notes)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 27, 2015

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract]

Goodwill And Franchise Rights [Text Block]

Intangible Assets

Goodwill. The Company is required to review goodwill for impairment annually, or more frequently, when events and circumstances indicate that the carrying amount may be impaired. If the determined fair value of goodwill is less than the related carrying amount, an impairment loss is recognized. The Company performs its annual impairment assessment as of the last day of its fiscal year and does not believe circumstances have changed since the last assessment date which would make it necessary to reassess its value. There were no goodwill impairment losses during the three and nine months ended September 27, 2015 and September 28, 2014. The change in goodwill for the nine months ended September 27, 2015 is summarized below:



Balance at December 28, 2014	$	17,793
Acquisition of nine restaurants (Note 2)	591
Balance at September 27, 2015	$	18,384

Franchise Rights. Amounts allocated to franchise rights for each acquisition of Burger King restaurants are amortized using the straight-line method over the average remaining term of the acquired franchise agreements plus one twenty-year renewal period.

The Company assesses the potential impairment of franchise rights whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable. If an indicator of impairment exists, an estimate of the aggregate undiscounted cash flows from the acquired restaurants is compared to the respective carrying value of franchise rights for each acquisition. If an asset is determined to be impaired, the loss is measured by the excess of the carrying amount of the asset over its fair value. No impairment charges were recorded related to the Company’s franchise rights for the three and nine months ended September 27, 2015 or September 28, 2014. The change in franchise rights for the nine months ended September 27, 2015 is summarized below:



Balance at December 28, 2014	$	102,900
Acquisition of nine restaurants (Note 2)	579
Amortization expense	(3,434		)
Balance at September 27, 2015	$	100,045

Amortization expense related to franchise rights was $1.2 million and $1.1 million for the three months ended September 27, 2015 and September 28, 2014, respectively, and $3.4 million and $3.2 million for the nine months ended September 27, 2015 and September 28, 2014, respectively. The Company expects annual amortization expense to be $4.7 million in 2015 and in each of the following five years.

Favorable and Unfavorable Leases. Amounts allocated to favorable and unfavorable leases are being amortized using the straight-line method over the remaining terms of the underlying lease agreements as a net reduction of restaurant rent expense. Additions to unfavorable leases from the 2015 acquisitions referenced in Note 2 totaled $0.2 million for the three and nine months ended September 27, 2015.

The net reduction of rent expense related to the amortization of favorable and unfavorable leases was $0.2 million for both the three months ended September 27, 2015 and September 28, 2014, and was $0.6 million and $0.5 million for the nine months ended September 27, 2015 and September 28, 2014, respectively. The Company expects the net annual reduction of rent expense to be $0.8 million for all of 2015 and 2016, $0.7 million in 2017 and 2018 and $0.6 million in 2019 and 2020.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for the aggregate amount of goodwill and a description of intangible assets, which may include (a) for amortizable intangible assets (also referred to as finite-lived intangible assets), the carrying amount, the amount of any significant residual value, and the weighted-average amortization period, (b) for intangible assets not subject to amortization (also referred to as indefinite-lived intangible assets), the carrying amount, and (c) the amount of research and development assets acquired and written off in the period, including the line item in the income statement in which the amounts written off are aggregated, if not readily apparent from the income statement. Also discloses (a) for amortizable intangibles assets in total and by major class, the gross carrying amount and accumulated amortization, the total amortization expense for the period, and the estimated aggregate amortization expense for each of the five succeeding fiscal years, (b) for intangible assets not subject to amortization the carrying amount in total and by major class, and (c) for goodwill, in total and for each reportable segment, the changes in the carrying amount of goodwill during the period (including the aggregate amount of goodwill acquired, the aggregate amount of impairment losses recognized, and the amount of goodwill included in the gain (loss) on disposal of a reporting unit). If any part of goodwill has not been allocated to a reportable segment, discloses the unallocated amount and the reasons for not allocating. For each impairment loss recognized related to an intangible asset (excluding goodwill), discloses: (a) a description of the impaired intangible asset and the facts and circumstances leading to the impairment, (b) the amount of the impairment loss and the method for determining fair value, (c) the caption in the income statement or the statement of activities in which the impairment loss is aggregated, and (d) the segment in which the impaired intangible asset is reported. For each goodwill impairment loss recognized, discloses: (a) a description of the facts and circumstances leading to the impairment, (b) the amount of the impairment loss and the method of determining the fair value of the associated reporting unit, and (c) if a recognized impairment loss is an estimate not finalized and the reasons why the estimate is not final. May also disclose the nature and amount of any significant adjustments made to a previous estimate of an impairment loss.

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