Sandwich Chain Cosi Blames Pope's Visit For Poor Sales

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Pope Francis brought good will and warm feelings when he visited the U.S. last month, but sandwich chain Cosi is now blaming the pontiff for its slumping sales.

Cosi reported sales at its company-owned restaurants were down 4.5 percent in September compared to last year. The news caused the Boston-based chain's stock to tumble 17 percent, to 89 cents, Wednesday.

"Business interruptions resulting from the pope's visit on Sept. 22-26, 2015, negatively impacted 30 percent of our company-owned restaurants," the company said in a news release.

Cosi has 109 locations. About 30 percent of them are located in the three cities Francis visited -- Washington, New York and Philadelphia.

Parts of those cities were blocked off to accommodate the pope's travels.