POCATELLO — The Bridge restaurant in Pocatello has come under new ownership — and a new name.

Since starting the restaurant seven and a half years ago, Lisa Willmore, the former owner, said she has always wanted the best for it.

About a year and a half ago, Willmore moved the restaurant, which will be renamed The Yellowstone, from its location on South First Avenue to inside the old Yellowstone Hotel on Main Street in Old Town. Willmore said she and her husband had hoped the location move would bring in more customers and expand the restaurant.

To assist in that, Willmore said she brought Belgian entrepreneur Denis Clijsters of Bricks & More, LLC, on as a partner and half owner a couple months ago. According to Willmore, Clijsters had a number of ideas for renovations to the restaurant, and while she liked all of them, she said she felt it was time she and her husband passed the torch on to “new blood.”

So last week, she officially sold the restaurant to Clijsters and Mike McCormick, director of engineering semiconductor solutions at Carsley & Associates, as well as two others. According to Clijsters, the four will all be co-owners. The terms of the purchase were not disclosed.

“My husband and I don’t want to see that Yellowstone location fail,” Willmore said. “And we knew we weren’t going to be doing this forever. I had to look beyond me and my husband and think, ‘These are two young people who want nothing more than to make (this restaurant) succeed.’”

Clijsters and McCormick said they have many plans already in the works for the betterment of the restaurant. They hope to create an outdoor patio seating area, as well as a whiskey bar.

Additionally, they will be changing the name of the restaurant to The Yellowstone to fit with the name of the hotel in which the restaurant is located. Though Clijsters and the others now own the restaurant, ownership of the hotel, which has been closed for many years, remains with Pocatello businessman Dick Carroll.

“I think this is a great opportunity to take The Bridge to the next level,” Willmore said. “They’re innovative. They’re creative.”

Though they have no ownership of the restaurant anymore, Willmore said they’ll stick around to assist the new owners through the transition.

“We are 100 percent going to help them in any way we can,” she said.

She added that above all else, she wanted to thank all the customers she has served at the restaurant over the years.

“I totally appreciate their loyalty,” Willmore said.

According to Clijsters, the new and improved restaurant is tentatively set to open Sept. 6.