Basis Of Presentation (Notes)	6 Months Ended
Jul. 02, 2017
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
Basis Of Presentation	Basis of Presentation Business Description. At July 2, 2017 Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc. ("Carrols Restaurant Group") operated, as franchisee, 799 restaurants under the trade name “Burger King ®” in 17 Northeastern, Midwestern and Southeastern states. Basis of Consolidation. Carrols Restaurant Group is a holding company and conducts all of its operations through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Carrols Corporation (“Carrols”) and Carrols' wholly-owned subsidiary, Carrols LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, and Carrols LLC's wholly-owned subsidiary Republic Foods, Inc., a Maryland corporation ("Republic Foods"). The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements presented herein include the accounts of Carrols Restaurant Group and its wholly-owned subsidiary Carrols. Unless the context otherwise requires, Carrols Restaurant Group, Carrols, Carrols LLC and Republic Foods, Inc. are collectively referred to as the “Company.” All intercompany transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. Fiscal Year. The Company uses a 52-53 week fiscal year ending on the Sunday closest to December 31. The three and six months ended July 2, 2017 and July 3, 2016 each contained thirteen and twenty-six weeks, respectively. The 2017 fiscal year will end December 31, 2017 and will contain 52 weeks. Basis of Presentation. The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements for the six months ended July 2, 2017 and July 3, 2016 have been prepared without an audit, pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and do not include certain of the information and the footnotes required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, all normal and recurring adjustments considered necessary for a fair presentation of such unaudited consolidated financial statements have been included. The results of operations for the three and six months ended July 2, 2017 and July 3, 2016 are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full year. These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto contained in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 1, 2017. The January 1, 2017 consolidated balance sheet data is derived from those audited consolidated financial statements. Use of Estimates. The preparation of the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the dates of the unaudited consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. Significant items subject to such estimates include: accrued occupancy costs, insurance liabilities, evaluation for impairment of long-lived assets and franchise rights, lease accounting matters, the valuation of acquired assets and liabilities and the valuation of deferred income tax assets. Actual results could differ from those estimates. Segment Information. Operating segments are components of an entity for which separate financial information is available and is regularly reviewed by the chief operating decision maker in order to allocate resources and assess performance. The Company's chief operating decision maker currently evaluates the Company's operations from a number of different operational perspectives; however resource allocation decisions are made at a total-Company basis. The Company derives all significant revenues from a single operating segment. Accordingly, the Company views the operating results of its Burger King restaurants as one reportable segment. Business Combinations. In accordance with ASC 805, the Company allocates the purchase price of an acquired business to its net identifiable assets and liabilities based on the estimated fair values. The excess of the purchase price over the amount allocated to the assets and liabilities, if any, is recorded as goodwill. The Company uses all available information to estimate fair values of identifiable intangible assets and property acquired. In making these determinations, the Company may engage an independent third party valuation specialist to assist with the valuation of certain leasehold improvements, franchise rights and favorable and unfavorable leases. The Company estimates that the seller's carrying value of acquired restaurant equipment, subject to certain adjustments, is equivalent to fair value of this equipment at the date of the acquisition. The fair values of assumed franchise agreements are valued as if the remaining term of the agreement is at the market rate. The fair values of acquired land, buildings,certain leasehold improvements and restaurant equipment subject to capital leases are determined using both the cost approach and market approach. The fair value of the favorable and unfavorable leases acquired, as well as the fair value of land, buildings, leasehold improvements and restaurant equipment subject to capital leases acquired is measured using significant inputs observable in the open market. The Company categorizes all such inputs as Level 2 inputs under ASC 820. The fair value of acquired franchise rights is primarily determined using the income approach. Fair Value of Financial Instruments. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date. In determining fair value, the accounting standards establish a three level hierarchy for inputs used in measuring fair value as follows: Level 1 inputs are quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities; Level 2 inputs are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly, including quoted prices in active markets for similar assets or liabilities; and Level 3 inputs are unobservable and reflect our own assumptions. Financial instruments include cash, trade and other receivables, accounts payable and long-term debt. The carrying amounts of cash, trade and other receivables and accounts payable approximate fair value because of the short-term nature of these financial instruments. The fair value of the Carrols Restaurant Group 8.0% Senior Secured Second Lien Notes due 2022 is based on a recent trading value, which is considered Level 2, and at July 2, 2017 was approximately $293.6 million. Fair value measurements of non-financial assets and non-financial liabilities are primarily used in the impairment analysis of long-lived assets, goodwill and intangible assets. Long-lived assets and definite-lived intangible assets are measured at fair value on a nonrecurring basis using Level 3 inputs. As described in Note 4, the Company recorded long-lived asset impairment charges of $0.2 million and $0.6 million during the three and six months ended July 2, 2017, respectively, and $0.5 million and $0.6 million during the three and six months ended July 3, 2016, respectively. Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements. In January 2017, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2017-04, Intangibles - Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment. This ASU simplifies the accounting for goodwill by eliminating step 2 from the goodwill impairment test. Under the new ASU, if the carrying amount of a reporting unit exceeds its fair value, an impairment loss will be recognized for the amount by which the carrying amount exceeds its fair value. This update is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, including interim periods within those fiscal years, with early adoption permitted. The Company believes that this pronouncement will have no impact on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures. In August 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-15, Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230): Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments. This ASU addresses the classification of certain cash receipts and payments in the statement of cash flows in order to eliminate diversity in practice. This update is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017, including interim periods within those fiscal years, with early adoption permitted. The Company is evaluating the potential impact that adoption will have on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures. In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, Leases. This ASU is intended to improve the reporting of leasing transactions to provide users of financial statements with more decision-useful information. This ASU will require organizations that lease assets to recognize the assets and liabilities for the rights and obligations created by those leases on the balance sheet. This ASU is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, including interim periods within those fiscal years, using a modified retrospective approach. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is evaluating the potential impact that adoption will have on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures, but expects it will have a material impact on its consolidated balance sheet as the ASU requires balance sheet recognition of assets and obligations for current operating leases. In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-09, Compensation—Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting, which simplifies certain elements of accounting for employee share-based payment transactions, including income tax consequences, the classification of awards as either equity or liabilities, and classification on the statement of cash flows. The Company adopted this ASU in the first quarter of 2017. Upon adoption of this ASU, the Company elected to change its accounting policy and account for forfeitures when they occur. The Company recorded a $3.7 million cumulative-effect adjustment to increase deferred tax assets and retained earnings as a result of the recognition of excess tax benefits previously unrealized. Prior periods have not been adjusted for the adoption of this ASU. In May 2014, and in subsequent updates, the FASB issued ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), which requires recognition of revenue from contracts with customers upon transfer of promised goods or services in an amount that reflects the consideration the entity expects to be entitled to in exchange for those goods or services and expands related disclosure requirements. The new revenue guidance is effective for the Company beginning with our first quarter of fiscal 2018 and may be applied retrospectively to all periods presented or retrospectively with the cumulative effect recognized as of the date of adoption. The Company believes that impact of this adoption will have no impact on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.

Basis of Presentation

Business Description. At July 2, 2017 Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc. ("Carrols Restaurant Group") operated, as franchisee, 799 restaurants under the trade name “Burger King ®” in 17 Northeastern, Midwestern and Southeastern states.

Basis of Consolidation. Carrols Restaurant Group is a holding company and conducts all of its operations through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Carrols Corporation (“Carrols”) and Carrols' wholly-owned subsidiary, Carrols LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, and Carrols LLC's wholly-owned subsidiary Republic Foods, Inc., a Maryland corporation ("Republic Foods"). The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements presented herein include the accounts of Carrols Restaurant Group and its wholly-owned subsidiary Carrols.

Unless the context otherwise requires, Carrols Restaurant Group, Carrols, Carrols LLC and Republic Foods, Inc. are collectively referred to as the “Company.” All intercompany transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

Fiscal Year. The Company uses a 52-53 week fiscal year ending on the Sunday closest to December 31. The three and six months ended July 2, 2017 and July 3, 2016 each contained thirteen and twenty-six weeks, respectively. The 2017 fiscal year will end December 31, 2017 and will contain 52 weeks.

Basis of Presentation. The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements for the six months ended July 2, 2017 and July 3, 2016 have been prepared without an audit, pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and do not include certain of the information and the footnotes required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, all normal and recurring adjustments considered necessary for a fair presentation of such unaudited consolidated financial statements have been included. The results of operations for the three and six months ended July 2, 2017 and July 3, 2016 are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full year.

These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto contained in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 1, 2017. The January 1, 2017 consolidated balance sheet data is derived from those audited consolidated financial statements.

Use of Estimates. The preparation of the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the dates of the unaudited consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. Significant items subject to such estimates include: accrued occupancy costs, insurance liabilities, evaluation for impairment of long-lived assets and franchise rights, lease accounting matters, the valuation of acquired assets and liabilities and the valuation of deferred income tax assets. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Segment Information. Operating segments are components of an entity for which separate financial information is available and is regularly reviewed by the chief operating decision maker in order to allocate resources and assess performance. The Company's chief operating decision maker currently evaluates the Company's operations from a number of different operational perspectives; however resource allocation decisions are made at a total-Company basis. The Company derives all significant revenues from a single operating segment. Accordingly, the Company views the operating results of its Burger King restaurants as one reportable segment.

Business Combinations. In accordance with ASC 805, the Company allocates the purchase price of an acquired business to its net identifiable assets and liabilities based on the estimated fair values. The excess of the purchase price over the amount allocated to the assets and liabilities, if any, is recorded as goodwill. The Company uses all available information to estimate fair values of identifiable intangible assets and property acquired. In making these determinations, the Company may engage an independent third party valuation specialist to assist with the valuation of certain leasehold improvements, franchise rights and favorable and unfavorable leases.

The Company estimates that the seller's carrying value of acquired restaurant equipment, subject to certain adjustments, is equivalent to fair value of this equipment at the date of the acquisition. The fair values of assumed franchise agreements are valued as if the remaining term of the agreement is at the market rate. The fair values of acquired land, buildings,certain leasehold improvements and restaurant equipment subject to capital leases are determined using both the cost approach and market approach. The fair value of the favorable and unfavorable leases acquired, as well as the fair value of land, buildings, leasehold improvements and restaurant equipment subject to capital leases acquired is measured using significant inputs observable in the open market. The Company categorizes all such inputs as Level 2 inputs under ASC 820. The fair value of acquired franchise rights is primarily determined using the income approach.

Fair Value of Financial Instruments. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date. In determining fair value, the accounting standards establish a three level hierarchy for inputs used in measuring fair value as follows: Level 1 inputs are quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities; Level 2 inputs are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly, including quoted prices in active markets for similar assets or liabilities; and Level 3 inputs are unobservable and reflect our own assumptions. Financial instruments include cash, trade and other receivables, accounts payable and long-term debt. The carrying amounts of cash, trade and other receivables and accounts payable approximate fair value because of the short-term nature of these financial instruments. The fair value of the Carrols Restaurant Group 8.0% Senior Secured Second Lien Notes due 2022 is based on a recent trading value, which is considered Level 2, and at July 2, 2017 was approximately $293.6 million.

Fair value measurements of non-financial assets and non-financial liabilities are primarily used in the impairment analysis of long-lived assets, goodwill and intangible assets. Long-lived assets and definite-lived intangible assets are measured at fair value on a nonrecurring basis using Level 3 inputs. As described in Note 4, the Company recorded long-lived asset impairment charges of $0.2 million and $0.6 million during the three and six months ended July 2, 2017, respectively, and $0.5 million and $0.6 million during the three and six months ended July 3, 2016, respectively.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements. In January 2017, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2017-04, Intangibles - Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment. This ASU simplifies the accounting for goodwill by eliminating step 2 from the goodwill impairment test. Under the new ASU, if the carrying amount of a reporting unit exceeds its fair value, an impairment loss will be recognized for the amount by which the carrying amount exceeds its fair value. This update is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, including interim periods within those fiscal years, with early adoption permitted. The Company believes that this pronouncement will have no impact on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.

In August 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-15, Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230): Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments. This ASU addresses the classification of certain cash receipts and payments in the statement of cash flows in order to eliminate diversity in practice. This update is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017, including interim periods within those fiscal years, with early adoption permitted. The Company is evaluating the potential impact that adoption will have on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, Leases. This ASU is intended to improve the reporting of leasing transactions to provide users of financial statements with more decision-useful information. This ASU will require organizations that lease assets to recognize the assets and liabilities for the rights and obligations created by those leases on the balance sheet. This ASU is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, including interim periods within those fiscal years, using a modified retrospective approach. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is evaluating the potential impact that adoption will have on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures, but expects it will have a material impact on its consolidated balance sheet as the ASU requires balance sheet recognition of assets and obligations for current operating leases.

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-09, Compensation—Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting, which simplifies certain elements of accounting for employee share-based payment transactions, including income tax consequences, the classification of awards as either equity or liabilities, and classification on the statement of cash flows. The Company adopted this ASU in the first quarter of 2017. Upon adoption of this ASU, the Company elected to change its accounting policy and account for forfeitures when they occur. The Company recorded a $3.7 million cumulative-effect adjustment to increase deferred tax assets and retained earnings as a result of the recognition of excess tax benefits previously unrealized. Prior periods have not been adjusted for the adoption of this ASU.

In May 2014, and in subsequent updates, the FASB issued ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), which requires recognition of revenue from contracts with customers upon transfer of promised goods or services in an amount that reflects the consideration the entity expects to be entitled to in exchange for those goods or services and expands related disclosure requirements. The new revenue guidance is effective for the Company beginning with our first quarter of fiscal 2018 and may be applied retrospectively to all periods presented or retrospectively with the cumulative effect recognized as of the date of adoption. The Company believes that impact of this adoption will have no impact on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.