Employee Benefit Plans

We maintain several defined benefit plans and defined contribution plans which cover a substantial number of employees. Benefits under our defined benefit plans are based upon each employee’s years of service and average salary. Our funding policy for these plans is based on the minimum amount required under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.

The Advantica Pension Plan (the “Pension Plan”) was closed to new qualifying participants as of December 31, 1999. Benefits ceased to accrue for Pension Plan participants as of December 31, 2004. During 2014, our Board of Directors approved the termination and liquidation of the Pension Plan as of December 31, 2014. During the year ended December 28, 2016, we completed the liquidation of the Pension Plan. Accordingly, we made a final contribution of $9.5 million to the Pension Plan. The resulting $67.7 million in Pension Plan assets were used to make lump sum payments and purchase annuity contracts, which are administered by a third-party provider. In addition, during the year ended December 28, 2016, we recognized a pre-tax settlement loss of $24.3 million related to the liquidation, reflecting the recognition of unamortized actuarial losses that were recorded in accumulated other comprehensive income. See Note 15.

Defined Benefit Plans

The obligations and funded status for the Pension Plan and other defined benefit plans were as follows:



	Pension Plan						Other Defined Benefit Plans
	December 28, 2016			December 30, 2015			December 28, 2016			December 30, 2015
	(In thousands)
Change in Benefit Obligation:
Benefit obligation at beginning of year	$	67,735		$	74,208		$	2,669		$	2,713
Service cost	105			380			—			—
Interest cost	—			2,983			91			107
Actuarial (gains) losses	945			(5,780		)	73			43
Benefits paid	(1,057		)	(4,056		)	(194		)	(194		)
Settlements	(67,728		)	—			—			—
Benefit obligation at end of year	$	—		$	67,735		$	2,639		$	2,669
Accumulated benefit obligation	$	—		$	67,735		$	2,639		$	2,669

Change in Plan Assets:
Fair value of plan assets at beginning of year	$	58,378		$	62,820		$	—		$	—
Actual return on plan assets	861			(386		)	—			—
Employer contributions	9,546			—			194			194
Benefits paid	(1,057		)	(4,056		)	(194		)	(194		)
Settlements	(67,728		)	—			—			—
Fair value of plan assets at end of year	$	—		$	58,378		$	—		$	—
Funded status	$	—		$	(9,357	)	$	(2,639	)	$	(2,669	)

The amounts recognized in our Consolidated Balance Sheets were as follows:



	Pension Plan					Other Defined Benefit Plans
	December 28, 2016		December 30, 2015			December 28, 2016			December 30, 2015
	(In thousands)
Other current liabilities	$	—	$	(9,357	)	$	(259	)	$	(291	)
Other noncurrent liabilities	—		—			(2,380		)	(2,378		)
Net amount recognized	$	—	$	(9,357	)	$	(2,639	)	$	(2,669	)

The amounts recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income, that have not yet been recognized as a component of net periodic benefit cost, were as follows:



	Pension Plan				Other Defined Benefit Plans
	December 28, 2016		December 30, 2015		December 28, 2016		December 30, 2015
	(In thousands)
Unamortized actuarial losses, net	$	—	(23,955	)	(1,033	)	(1,045	)

During fiscal 2017, less than $0.1 million of accumulated other comprehensive income will be recognized related to our other defined benefit plans.

The components of the change in unamortized actuarial losses, net, included in accumulated other comprehensive loss were as follows:



	Fiscal Year Ended
	December 28, 2016			December 30, 2015
	(In thousands)
Pension Plan:
Balance, beginning of year	$	(23,955	)	$	(27,574	)
Benefit obligation actuarial gain (loss)	(945		)	5,780
Net (loss) gain	603			(3,894		)
Amortization of net loss	—			1,733
Settlement loss recognized	24,297			—
Balance, end of year	$	—		$	(23,955	)

Other Defined Benefit Plans:
Balance, beginning of year	$	(1,045	)	$	(1,081	)
Benefit obligation actuarial loss	(73		)	(43		)
Amortization of net loss	85			79
Settlement loss recognized	—			—
Balance, end of year	$	(1,033	)	$	(1,045	)

Minimum pension liability adjustments, net of tax for 2016, 2015 and 2014 were a reduction of $21.8 million, a reduction of $2.2 million and an addition of $6.3 million, respectively. Total minimum pension liability adjustments of $0.9 million (net of a tax benefit of $0.1 million) and $22.8 million (net of a tax benefit of $2.2 million) are included as a component of accumulated other comprehensive loss, net in our Consolidated Statements of Shareholders' Deficit for the years ended December 28, 2016 and December 30, 2015, respectively.

The components of net periodic benefit cost were as follows:



	Fiscal Year Ended
	December 28, 2016			December 30, 2015			December 31, 2014
	(In thousands)
Pension Plan:
Service cost	$	105		$	380		$	380
Interest cost	—			2,983			3,099
Expected return on plan assets	—			(3,508		)	(3,953		)
Amortization of net loss	—			1,733			924
Settlement loss recognized	$	24,297		$	—		$	—
Net periodic benefit cost	$	24,402		$	1,588		$	450
Other comprehensive (income) loss	$	(23,955	)	$	(3,619	)	$	10,141

Other Defined Benefit Plans:
Interest cost	$	91		$	107		$	123
Amortization of net loss	85			79			66
Settlement loss recognized	—			—			50
Net periodic benefit cost	$	176		$	186		$	239
Other comprehensive (income) loss	$	(12	)	$	(36	)	$	182

Net pension and other defined benefit plan costs (including premiums paid to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation) for 2016, 2015 and 2014 were $24.6 million, $1.8 million and $0.7 million, respectively.

Assumptions

Because the Pension Plan was closed to new qualifying participants as of December 31, 1999 and benefits ceased to accrue for Pension Plan participants as of December 31, 2004, an assumed rate of increase in compensation levels was not applicable for 2016, 2015 or 2014.



	December 28, 2016		December 30, 2015		December 31, 2014
Assumptions used to determine benefit obligations:
Pension Plan:
Discount rate	N/A		1.34	%
Other Defined Benefit Plans:
Discount rate	3.31	%	3.62	%

Assumptions used to determine net periodic pension cost:
Discount rate	3.62	%	4.12	%	4.98	%
Rate of increase in compensation levels	N/A		N/A		N/A
Expected long-term rate of return on assets	N/A		5.75	%	6.50	%

In determining the expected long-term rate of return on assets, we evaluated our asset class return expectations, as well as long-term historical asset class returns. Projected returns are based on broad equity and bond indices. Additionally, we considered our historical compounded returns, which have been in excess of our forward-looking return expectations. In determining the discount rate, we have considered long-term bond indices of bonds having similar timing and amounts of cash flows as our estimated defined benefit payments. We use a yield curve based on high quality, long-term corporate bonds to calculate the single equivalent discount rate that results in the same present value as the sum of each of the plan's estimated benefit payments discounted at their respective spot rates.

Plan Assets

The investment policy of the Pension Plan is based on an evaluation of our ability and willingness to assume investment risk in light of the financial and benefit-related goals objectives deemed to be prudent by the fiduciaries of our pension plan assets. These objectives include, but are not limited to, earning a rate of return over time to satisfy the benefit obligation, managing funded status volatility and maintaining sufficient liquidity. There were no Pension Plan assets as of December 28, 2016 due to the Plan's liquidation during the year then ended.

The fair values of the Pension Plan assets were as follows as of December 30, 2015:



Asset Category	Total		Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets/Liabilities (Level 1)		Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2)		Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
	(In thousands)
Cash equivalents	$	1,777	$	1,777	$	—	$	—
Fixed income securities:
U.S. Treasuries	3,500		3,500		—		—
Corporate bonds (a)	53,101		53,101		—		—
Total	$	58,378	$	58,378	$	—	$	—


(a)	This category includes intermediate and long-term investment grade bonds from diverse industries.

Following is a description of the valuation methodologies used for assets measured at fair value.


•	Equity Securities and Fixed Income Securities: Valued at the net asset value (“NAV”) of shares held by the Pension Plan at year-end. The NAV is a quoted price in an active market.


•	Cash Equivalents: Valuation determined by the trustee of the money market funds based on the fair value of the underlying securities within the fund, which represent the NAV, a practical expedient to fair value, of the units held by the Pension Plan at year-end.

Contributions and Expected Future Benefit Payments

We made $9.5 million contributions to the Pension Plan during the year ended December 28, 2016 and made no contributions during the year ended December 30, 2015. We made contributions of $0.2 million to our other defined benefit plans during each of the years ended December 28, 2016 and December 30, 2015, respectively. We expect to contribute $0.3 million to our other defined benefit plans during 2017.

Benefits expected to be paid for each of the next five years and in the aggregate for the five fiscal years from 2022 through 2026 are as follows:



	Other Defined Benefit Plans
	(In thousands)
2017	$	259
2018	261
2019	494
2020	238
2021	223
2022 through 2026	1,233

Defined Contribution Plans

Eligible employees can elect to contribute up to 25% of their compensation to our 401(k) plan. Effective January 1, 2016, the plan was amended and restated to incorporate Safe Harbor Plan design features which included changes to participant eligibility, company contribution amounts and vesting. As a result, beginning in 2016, we match up to a maximum of 4% of compensation deferred by the participant. Prior to 2016, we made matching contributions of up to 3% of compensation deferred by the participant. In addition, a non-qualified deferred compensation plan is offered to certain employees. This plan allows participants to defer up to 50% of their annual salary and up to 100% of their bonus, on a pre-tax basis. Prior to 2016, we made matching contributions of up to 3% of compensation deferred by the participant under the non-qualified deferred compensation plan. Beginning in 2016, matching contributions are no longer made under this plan. We made total contributions of $2.2 million, $1.6 million and $1.4 million for 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively, under these plans.