Today a unique partnership was announced between Rupu and EatOut.

EatOut is a very useful sites that offers restaurant & cuisine information, reviews, and even enables bookings, keeping their clients in tune with what’s happening in the restaurant scene, and up to date on specials, and events. They have signed up 150 restaurants in Nairobi, Mombasa Malindi Diani, and soon Zanzibar.

Rupu who launched in December 2010, offer discounts on their site of between 50% – 90% through the concept of group buying – and found that their customers were asking for restaurant deals. The benefits to consumers are the sharp price discounts (which Kenyans love – see bazaars, Gikomba and the buy-one-get-one-free at Pizza Inn & Steers); while to business owners, they benefit from free marketing & publicity, introduction of new customers who are committed to buying, minimum guarantee of sales if a deal goes live and instant cash which is split 50/50 between the business and Rupu.

The first deal of the week under the partnership is with the new Sankara Hotel which wants to show its not as pricey as its current image.

Booking can be done through the restaurant or EatOut – and Rupu have trained & equipped business owners in authentication and redemption of vouchers. Transactions are completed online or by mobile phone, and take a few seconds if you have enough money in your M-Pesa or Zap account, with a booking interface is via pesapal. Credit cards, whose use is not as prevalent, will be introduced later this year.