CHICAGO — Charlie Bell, who died eight weeks after stepping down as McDonald's Corp. CEO, was remembered Monday for playing a key role in the fast-food chain's resurgence and helping to give it an edgier brand image.
Bell's seven-month stint as chief executive last year was cut short by his battle against colorectal cancer, which ended early Monday with his death at age 44 in his native Sydney, Australia.
Besides being the company's first non-American CEO, analysts say his legacy will lie primarily in the turnaround strategy he helped put in place in 2003 as president and chief operating officer under Jim Cantalupo and that remains in place today.
New restaurant openings were cut back and McDonald's overhauled its U.S. restaurant operations, boosting sales sharply through a combination of menu changes, service improvements, extended hours and building renovations.
Bell also oversaw the acclaimed "I'm lovin' it" global marketing campaign, drawing on his experience running McDonald's operations in Australia, Asia and Europe to insist on hipper, more relevant ads that have resonated with young adults. At the same time, the company moved to promote healthier food options such as newly introduced salads, bottled water, low-fat milk and fruit slices with Happy Meals.
Irwin Kruger, a McDonald's franchisee for 36 years who has known all seven company CEOs, said Bell had an unusually strong sense of restaurant operations coupled with a flair for marketing. He called him a driving force in the decision to pin the company's hopes on increasing then-stagnant U.S. sales.
"He wasn't afraid to take chances," said Kruger, who owns seven McDonald's in New York City. "Scaling back growth was a very bold move. All the predecessors before him had bet heavily that the way for McDonald's to be more successful was by adding more outlets."
Bell's personal style of outspoken salesmanship was unusual for a McDonald's CEO in recent years and more akin to that of Dave Thomas at rival Wendy's International Inc., still a marketing force three years after his death. Bell's immediate predecessors in Oak Brook were two accountants — Cantalupo and Jack Greenberg — and another CEO, Michael Quinlan, who shunned publicity during 11 years in the job.
Kruger said the gregarious, straight-talking Australian loved the limelight and captivated speech audiences and restaurant crews alike, boosting company morale. He said that contrasted with the other, more conservative company CEOs, although Cantalupo also was known for a warm personal style during 16 months on the job.
Bell began with McDonald's as a part-time restaurant worker at age 15 in the working-class Sydney suburb of Kingsford and became Australia's youngest store manager at 19. In 1993, he introduced the idea for the McCafe coffee shop in Australia, which McDonald's also exported elsewhere.
After rising through the ranks, he was promoted to the top job last April 19 following Cantalupo's death from a heart attack, but was diagnosed with cancer within days. He resigned Nov. 22, succeeded as CEO by Jim Skinner.
The Australian, a Sydney-based newspaper, praised Bell in an editorial Tuesday for an inspirational career and "great Australian achievement" in becoming one of only a handful of people from that country to run a top U.S. corporation.
"He was the sort of bloke who would probably have succeeded whatever he chose, not from any innate ability, but because he was willing to work, and work hard, and was prepared to persevere," the newspaper said. "In the world of work, an accurate epitaph for Charlie Bell is that he was game to have a go — and for any Australian there are few greater compliments."