Game Changing Partnership? EatOut Kenya, Google & Wazi WiFi bid to have Tech Savvy Kenyan’s visiting Restaurants

We all know Kenyan’s are NOT French and that we hardly go to hang out in restaurants.  This is partly due to our culture. I for starters do know that when I was young I was advised to have my meals at home and we would go out to have meals in a restaurant occasionally. However, that was then and the context was rural Kenya.

Enter Nairobi, you have a significant number of Kenyan’s patronizing beer establishments especially weekends. So who patronizes Nairobi restaurants? Apart from the Somali community whom you will see having business deals in restaurants most middle Kenyans’ will be found in coffee shops. This was a popular trend a while back. I do not know if it is still there.

Other folks known to patronize restaurants are the expatriates but these folks also have specific joins they frequent. These are the Art Cafés and Java which are mostly located in malls. So what happens to those restaurants outside this jurisdiction?

That is why I think this partnership between Eatout Kenya, Google and Wazi Wifi might get some tech friendly folks moving out of the offices with the knowledge that they can have their meals or drinks while having a pulse of what is going on in their businesses. Hopefully their WiFi solution will NOT be crap. If one can do some business in a restaurant at good prices then we are all going to be hanging out more often in restaurants.

I remember last Saturday we’re doing Mindspeak in a 5 Star Hotel and I couldn't believe the amounts being charged by this establishment for internet. Later that evening I saw some tweets which I believe hammer this point home.

 ‏@coldtusker @Ramah_Nyang @karisamf I tried to use Intercont's wifi. I think 400/hr. lousy 

@karisamf @Ramah_Nyang @coldtusker I agree, Hotel Cybers are expensive...a Good example Hilton Nairobi is 1K per hour 

‏@Ramah_Nyang @karisamf KES 1000? What's the rationale for that sort of pricing when hotel net speeds are usually crap? @coldtusker 

@coldtusker @Ramah_Nyang @karisamf At least with @SafaricomLtd bundles on my phone... Not an issue in KE. Don't roam elsewhere! 

‏@coldtusker @karisamf @ramah_nyang In US, best wifi speeds at biz friendly 'budget' hotels not the pricier ones! Go figure 

@Ramah_Nyang: Clearly the 5-star name writes a check it's 1-star wif-fi can't cash

This had me thinking it is high time perhaps Eatout Kenya which does Restaurant Ranking introduces a new category. A rank of Nairobi restaurants in a new category of ‘hotels with the best WiFi’ because some of these restaurants have connections that really suck. A ranking will result to them pulling up their socks in this category. Also while at that a list which shows internet pricing if it exists would be really useful because some establishments in Nairobi are charging an arm and leg for internet.