The oldest outlet of Quanjude Group ofroast duck restaurants, on Qianmen Street in downtown Beijing, will closefor business on Tuesday night.(File Photo)

BEIJING, April 24 (Xinhua) -- A 143-year-old Beijing roast duck restaurant may be closing for renovations but it is not about to let its ovens go cold.

In keeping with tradition, the restaurant said it will keep embers from its wood-fired ovens burning during the six-month refurbishing job.

The oldest outlet of Quanjude Group of roast duck restaurants, on Qianmen Street in downtown Beijing, will close for business on Tuesday night.

A ceremony to preserve the oven-fire at the Qianmen Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant, which the restaurant says has not been extinguished since it first opened in 1864, will be conducted before the end of business at 8 p.m. on Tuesday.

The restaurant says it will keep embers burning in what it calls an ancient cooking vessel that will be kept on-site during the renovations.

The renovations of the Qianmen shop are being done in tandem with the massive redevelopment of Qianmen Street, said Wang Xiaoshan a spokesperson for the restaurant chain.

The founding father of Quanjude was a farmer named Yung Quanrenfrom north China's Hebei Province. He grew up raising ducks for his landlord before going into business for himself.

In 1864, he bought a bankrupt fruit store and turned it into a restaurant specializing in duck cuisine. He called the new restaurant Quanjude, following the suggestion of his fortune tell.

In 2004, the World Brand Laboratory estimated the brand name, Quanjude, is worth 8.458 billion yuan (about 1.02 billion US dollars).

Quanjude now operates seven roast duck restaurants in Beijing, three in other parts of the country. It also has 50-odd franchise outlets, including one in Tokyo, said an official with the Quanjude Group.

The restaurant estimates it has served more than 150 million ducks through its history.

Closing the Qianmen restaurant will cost the chain about 400,000 yuan (about 50,000 U.S. dollars) a day in lost revenue, said Wang.

About 70 percent of the 300 or so employees working with the Qianmen outlet, situated 500 meters south the city gate at Qianmen, will be assigned to work at a new outlet scheduled to open on Thursday, the remainder will be given jobs at other outlets of Quanjude Group, said Wang.