After being closed for nearly two months, the Bojangles’ restaurant on Western Boulevard re-opened on Tuesday.

A fire caused by combustible materials being too close to an exterior-flame water heater forced the restaurant to close at the end of May.

Amanda Arnold, an assistant to the president of Tri-Arcs Food Systems — which owns and operates the Bojangles’ on Western Boulevard — said the initial estimates on damage turned out to be too low.

“The damage was worse than we first thought,” she said. “The smoke and fire damage was definitely worse than initially estimated.”

Arnold said the less-than-60-day turn around time for re-opening the store was an impressive feat for the crews involved in the renovation process. As for getting people back into the restaurant, Arnold said that may have been the easiest part of the entire process.

“All we had to do was open up the parking lot and people were coming in right away,” she said.

For many students, Bojangles’ is one of the most visited restaurants near campus.

Zach Sipes, a sophomore in nutrition science, said he was extremely excited to find out the restaurant was opening again.

“I’m pretty psyched,” he said. “I was worried that I wouldn’t have anywhere to get food for tailgating once football gets here.”

Arnold said the owners of the franchise also recognized how important student business is to Bojangles’ and said the main goal during renovations was to re-open by at least August.

“Student business is definitely big,” she said. “We wanted to make sure to get it open number one before school started but also before the football season started.”