Customers of the Outdoor-In are probably glad that owner Mark Daily didn’t get his way when he was trying to figure out what type of business to open up eight years ago.

Daily was thinking about a “lube and tune,” an idea his wife, Gina wasn’t all revved up about.

“So we looked for something we could both do,” Mark said. “Everyone said there needed to be something in town for the kids.”

So Outdoor-In began primarily as an indoor playground. Then the Dailys noticed that the adults were there with their children for long stretches and decided to add food.

“Neither of us had restaurant experience,” Mark said. “But Gina comes from a long line of good cooks.”

And Gina is responsible for the clam chowder that won Cuisine’s favorite chowder poll.

“We order a good quality base, the best we can find,” Mark said. “Then Gina does her thing to it.

“She’s the one that does the stuff that makes our food stand out,” he said.

While the secrets to the chowder will remain secret, what’s not a secret is the reason for Outdoor-In’s success.

“Usually Gina and I are back there,” Mark said pointing toward the kitchen. “We have an open kitchen so people can see us. ... We interact every day with our customers. We take their orders, we cook it and we serve them.

“People always wanted us to succeed,” he said. “People have a place where their kids can cut loose and they can sit down and relax.”

But he said the quality of food sometimes surprises new customers.

“Chuck E. Cheese has ruined the reputation for anyplace that has kids,” he said. “There are a lot of people who might come in here to eat if they knew the food was good.

“People come up all the time and say, ‘That’s good chowder.’  Gina’s a natural. She knows what to do to make people like it.”

A lot of people obviously already know this — they went to their computers and voted.