Gold’s Gym Signs 15-Gym Southern California Franchise Deal

Gold’s Gym has signed a 15-location franchise development agreement with Roknipour Investment Group, setting out a return to Southern California after its regional departure in 2025. Announced on 28 September 2026, the agreement covers greater Los Angeles and Orange County, although individual sites and opening dates have not yet been disclosed.

A return to the brand’s birthplace

The agreement brings Gold’s Gym back towards its geographical roots. The brand originated in Venice Beach, making the proposed Southern California expansion a return to the area where its identity was established, rather than simply an addition to its US footprint.

That return follows a significant change in its regional presence. In 2025, EoS Fitness acquired 23 Gold’s Gym locations in Southern California, a transaction that the research describes as marking the brand’s departure from the market.

The new agreement calls for 15 new Gold’s Gym locations. It should therefore be understood as a fresh development commitment, not an announcement that the 23 gyms acquired by EoS Fitness will return to their former branding. No such conversion programme has been disclosed in the supplied reporting.

The distinction matters when assessing the scale of the news. Gold’s Gym has secured an agreement to rebuild a presence in the region, but the announcement does not establish an operating network of 15 gyms today.

Roknipour Investment Group leads the development

Roknipour Investment Group is the franchise partner behind the agreement. Its founder, Matt Roknipour, will lead the development across greater Los Angeles and Orange County.

The commitment places the planned expansion with a single investment group across two substantial Southern California markets. For the US franchise community, it is another example of an established brand using a multi-location agreement to organise regional growth through a franchise partner.

However, the details currently available stop short of showing how the programme will be delivered. Specific addresses have not been announced, and there is no disclosed opening timetable for either the first gym or the full group of 15.

That leaves an important gap between the scale of the signed commitment and the information available to prospective members, neighbouring businesses and others following the rollout. The agreement identifies the partner, territory and number of planned locations; it does not yet identify which local communities will receive them first.

An established name in a competitive market

Gold’s Gym currently operates more than 600 gyms across 30 countries, according to the supplied report. Its Southern California plans therefore sit within an international network, while targeting a region closely associated with the brand’s history.

The competitive setting is significant. The report identifies Planet Fitness, Equinox and EoS Fitness among the operators competing for Southern California memberships, alongside a broad range of boutique studios. Gold’s Gym’s return will take place in a market with multiple established fitness formats rather than an undeveloped territory.

Brand heritage provides context for the announcement, but it is not evidence of future membership performance. The available reporting does not provide membership targets, expected revenue or investment costs for the proposed gyms. Nor does it set out the facilities or membership packages planned for individual sites.

For readers assessing the opportunity, those omissions define the limits of the announcement. The confirmed news is a sizeable franchise development agreement, not a forecast of how the new locations will perform against nearby competitors.

What to watch as plans progress

The Southern California agreement forms part of wider franchise signing activity by Gold’s Gym across US markets in 2025 and 2026. The supplied report places that activity within the brand’s post-bankruptcy rebuilding efforts under RSG Group ownership and describes the Roknipour agreement as among its largest disclosed single-operator commitments in this period.

The next meaningful milestones will be site announcements and a timetable for the first opening. Until those details emerge, the 15-location figure is best treated as the scope of the development agreement rather than a near-term opening count. There is no published schedule against which to judge the pace of delivery.

Practical takeaway: Franchise agreements and gym openings are different milestones. For anyone tracking Gold’s Gym’s Southern California return, the key follow-up information is where the first sites will be, when they are expected to open and how the wider 15-location programme is scheduled.