Long-Term Debt (Narrative) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
Mar. 28, 2018	Dec. 27, 2017
Senior secured revolver [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Line of credit facility, current borrowing capacity	$ 400.0
Accordion feature that allows increase in size of facility	450.0
Outstanding amount under credit facility	282.0
Availability under the revolving facility	$ 96.8
Weighted-average interest rate (in hundredths)	3.76%	3.42%
Commitment fee for unused portion of revolving credit facility (in hundredths)	0.30%
Basis spread on variable rate debt	2.00%
Maturity date	Oct. 26, 2022
Letter of Credit [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Line of credit facility, current borrowing capacity	$ 30.0
Outstanding amount of letters of credit	$ 21.2
Interest Rate Swap [Member] \| Senior secured revolver [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Weighted-average interest rate (in hundredths)	3.53%	3.32%

Represents the amount the accordion feature allows the entity to increase the size of the credit facility to.

No definition available.

Name:	denn_Denn_AccordionFeatureThatAllowsIncreaseInSizeOfFacility
Namespace Prefix:	denn_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Percentage points added to the reference rate to compute the variable rate on the debt instrument.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentBasisSpreadOnVariableRate1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Date when the debt instrument is scheduled to be fully repaid, in CCYY-MM-DD format.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentMaturityDate
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:dateItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The total amount of the contingent obligation under letters of credit outstanding as of the reporting date.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LettersOfCreditOutstandingAmount
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The carrying value as of the balance sheet date of the current and noncurrent portions of long-term obligations drawn from a line of credit, which is a bank's commitment to make loans up to a specific amount. Examples of items that might be included in the application of this element may consist of letters of credit, standby letters of credit, and revolving credit arrangements, under which borrowings can be made up to a maximum amount as of any point in time conditional on satisfaction of specified terms before, as of and after the date of drawdowns on the line. Includes short-term obligations that would normally be classified as current liabilities but for which (a) postbalance sheet date issuance of a long term obligation to refinance the short term obligation on a long term basis, or (b) the enterprise has entered into a financing agreement that clearly permits the enterprise to refinance the short-term obligation on a long term basis and the following conditions are met (1) the agreement does not expire within 1 year and is not cancelable by the lender except for violation of an objectively determinable provision, (2) no violation exists at the BS date, and (3) the lender has entered into the financing agreement is expected to be financially capable of honoring the agreement.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02(22))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 944
-SubTopic 210
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.7-03(16))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6879938&loc=d3e572229-122910

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 210
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.9-03(16))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6876686&loc=d3e534808-122878

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LineOfCredit
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of current borrowing capacity under the credit facility considering any current restrictions on the amount that could be borrowed (for example, borrowings may be limited by the amount of current assets), but without considering any amounts currently outstanding under the facility.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LineOfCreditFacilityCurrentBorrowingCapacity
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LineOfCreditFacilityLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of borrowing capacity currently available under the credit facility (current borrowing capacity less the amount of borrowings outstanding).

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LineOfCreditFacilityRemainingBorrowingCapacity
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The fee, expressed as a percentage of the line of credit facility, for available but unused credit capacity under the credit facility.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LineOfCreditFacilityUnusedCapacityCommitmentFeePercentage
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Weighted average interest rate of long-term debt outstanding calculated at point in time.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LongtermDebtWeightedAverageInterestRate
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_RevolvingCreditFacilityMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_LetterOfCreditMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DerivativeInstrumentRiskAxis=us-gaap_InterestRateSwapMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: