“The customers (made the) transition,” Roberge said.

One of The Karibbean’s return customers is Jamie Brooks, of Lebanon, who started stopping by The Karibbean’s booth at the Lebanon Farmers Market around four years ago to purchase jerk chicken.

“My husband is obsessed,” Brooks said in an interview at a recent farmers market. “Any time I come, I have to pick it up for him.”

She is looking forward to visiting The Karibbean in West Lebanon. Brooks grew up in the Upper Valley and has noticed over time that the types of food offered has expanded.

“It’s been really nice to see the increase in interest in more diverse food in the area,” she said.

Jack Sammons, of Thetford Center, agreed.

“It makes it a more interesting place,” Sammons said about the more diverse food options in the Upper Valley.

Sammons, a vegetarian, likes a rice dish The Karibbean offers while he said his wife is fond of the jerk chicken.

“The reason I’m so excited is not many people know where it is now,” Sammons said at the farmers market, referring to The Karibbean’s Hanover Street location.

Ever since Advance Transit expanded to Saturday, a bus stop at the Norwich Farmers Market has brought The Karibbean’s booth new customers.

“Students say, ‘Oh ma’am, you saved my life,’ ” Roberge said, noting that Dartmouth College students have been buying up their spices and rubs.

After being introduced to The Karibbean’s food at the farmers market, some customers were a little disappointed they could only buy it for around five months a year.

People asked, “are we going to find this food in the winter?” Bowen recalled. “And then we decided, ‘OK, I guess we’ve got to maybe start offering meals.”

While the couple said their Hanover Street location has been successful, they are limited to cooking with electric stoves and unable to use the gas stoves they prefer because of the apartments above the spot. There’s also limited parking.

“A lot of people told me ... they’re trying to come there for lunch and they pull up,” and see all of the parking spaces filled, Bowen said.

For nearly two years, the couple has worked to renovate the West Lebanon space, a former Rymes Propane and Oil office which sits on the same side of Main Street as the nearby Kilton Public Library.

Roberge first found out the space was available, then she and Bowen made plans to go see it.

“When I walk in here, I was like, ‘Wow, this is going to be a lot of work,’ ” Bowen said. “Then I look at the outside and I say, ‘Wow (this) can be a good spot’ because ... you have nice visibility.”

Bowen estimated it cost at least $70,000 to do a “complete overhaul” of the office space, including putting in a kitchen and creating enough room to fit around 16 customers.

Funding for The Karibbean’s new space came from, in part, loans and grants through the Grafton Regional Development Corporation. Bowen laid the dining room’s new floors himself. Anne Duncan Cooley, chief executive officer of the Plymouth-based nonprofit organization, said Bowen’s dedication and background in restaurants made him an easy person to root for. She also noted that West Lebanon has a lot going for it, from the Kilton Public Library to the efforts to clean up the Westboro rail road property and build a waterfront park.

“There’s a lot going on in West Lebanon right now and we’re happy to support a business that’s part of that momentum,” Duncan Cooley said in a phone interview. “We’ve had his food and it’s good. That’s another real upside. It’s very tasty stuff.”

The couple plans on keeping up their pace at the farmers markets and the Lebanon location will remain open, with Roberge running it, while Bowen oversees the West Lebanon location. They also have one full-time employee and a few others who work part-time. The couple’s family members also pitch in regularly.

The West Lebanon location will be open from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday; and 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday. In addition to the ever-popular jerk-flavored meats like chicken and pork, the menu also includes Griot (Haitian pork), steamed fish, curried goat and curried chicken. There’s also quinoa salad with sweet potatoes and black beans; chickpea salad with avocado and fried plantain with spicy slaw. Dessert includes Rhum cake, peanut brittle and coconut brittle.

Growing a business is not without its challenges. While Bowen tries to buy as much produce as he can from area farmers, he has to purchase certain ingredients such as oxtail and goat from farther away.

“Those are hard to find,” Bowen said. Staff also must travel to Boston to find specific beverages like Jamaican ginger beer.

The next challenge, Bowen said, is finding staff who know how to work with the ingredients. The last challenge is perhaps the most important:

“Make sure you prepare that food to be the very best, to make sure when people eat it, they want to come back for it,” he said. “If something looks good and they eat it, and they feel good and happy with it, they’ll come back. So you’ve got to make sure everything is the same way. If anything, strive for better every day.”