Rockafeller’s Restaurant will close on Nov. 2 after serving its final meal.

The Virginia Beach mainstay has served seafood favorites — crabcakes, Oysters Rockafeller and she-crab soup — on Rudee Inlet since 1989.

Frank Baumann opened the beloved restaurant, and his wife, Elizabeth “BJ” Baumann , took over the business after he died in 1999.

“It has been a great run and business is still strong, but it’s time to move on from owning and operating a high-volume restaurant,” she said in a news release.

Baumann, 67, plans to dedicate time to her three grandchildren and civic interests. She previously chaired the city’s Resort Advisory Commission and served as president of the Virginia Beach Restaurant Association.

Forty staff members, many who worked there for decades, were informed of h

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