Nutri-System Franchise Owners Expand to L.A. : Bankruptcy: Judge OKs deal for Costa Mesa firm to reopen some diet centers in greater Los Angeles area.

The owners of the Nutri-System diet center franchise for Orange County are expanding and are also reopening some centers in the greater Los Angeles area that were closed in May.

Parent company Nutri-System Inc., based in Blue Bell, Pa., shut down 283 company-owned diet centers across the nation after creditors pushed the company into involuntary bankruptcy proceedings.

Last week, however, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in Philadelphia approved a deal in which Be Slim Enterprises in Costa Mesa can reopen Nutri-System locations in the Los Angeles area that were formerly run by the parent company.

About 1,800 employees nationwide lost their jobs when the centers, including 32 in Southern California, were shut down.

About 857 independent franchises remained open, including 12 owned by Be Slim in Orange County. Since then, Be Slim has closed diet centers in Orange, Santa Ana and Anaheim, leaving it with nine locations in Orange County.

Be Slim has reopened diet centers, however, in Long Beach, Torrance, Manhattan Beach, Riverside and Pasadena, said Joanne Watanabe, general manager for Be Slim.

Watanabe said that Be Slim hopes to reopen a center in the San Fernando Valley next week and as many as 16 in Southern California by next summer.

On Thursday, Nutri-System was one of five national diet programs accused by the Federal Trade Commission of engaging in deceptive advertising, providing unsubstantiated weight-loss claims and using consumer testimonials without evidence they represented typical experiences of average dieters. Nutri-System agreed to settle its complaints under a consent agreement.