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Karamu
Apply for pilot
How Karamu works

From an empty floor plan to a full Friday night, in five steps.

The whole platform — booking page, dashboard, kitchen display, front-of-house, payments — is built around one rhythm of restaurant life. Here’s the loop.

Apply for the pilot Try the booking demo

✦ Illustrative preview— every screen on this page is drawn for it, with sample numbers.

Set up
7 min · Owner

Add your tables in 7 minutes

Onboarding wizard walks you through restaurant info, floor plan, opening hours, and connecting M-Pesa. No installer. No on-site visit. We verify your payout account before your first deposit — usually the same week.

Get bookings
Day 1 · Guests

Your booking page is live

A mobile-first page with your menu, photos and live availability — at getkaramu.com/book/your-restaurant. Embed it on your site or share the link on Instagram.

Take deposits
Once verified · Guests

M-Pesa STK Push at checkout

Optional deposit on Friday and Saturday nights. Paystack pushes the prompt to the guest’s phone, and the booking confirms only when they pay. No-shows drop, kitchen confidence goes up.

Run service
Every shift · Staff

Floor, kitchen, and front-of-house in sync

Hosts seat tables on a live floor plan and orders fire straight to the kitchen display. Every M-Pesa deposit reconciles against its booking automatically — no chasing receipts at the pass.

Learn & grow
Weekly · Owner

Analytics that respect your time

See pacing, no-shows, peak hours, repeat rate, and deposit revenue at a glance — a clear weekly view in your dashboard, ready whenever you want it. No spreadsheets to build.

The Karamu rhythm

One loop. Five surfaces. Built for the way restaurants in Africa actually run.

  • Booking page
    Diner-facing · public web
  • Dashboard
    Owner & manager · web
  • Floor & host view
    Seat, walk-ins & waitlist
  • Kitchen display
    Cooks · tablet · dark
  • QR menu
    At the table · phone
Common questions

What we get asked first.

  • Do I need a printer or special hardware?

    No. Any phone, tablet or laptop with a browser works. Most kitchens run the KDS on a single Android tablet — around KES 18,000, one time.

  • What about loadshedding and patchy internet?

    Karamu is online-first, so we help you set up a backup connection — most venues pair their router with a phone hotspot. Even if your own line drops, your booking page stays up and keeps taking reservations.

  • Can I keep my current reservations system during setup?

    Yes. Karamu runs alongside your Google Forms, WhatsApp DMs or paper book for your first 30 days — we help you move across when you’re ready.

  • What does it cost?

    Lite is KES 9,900/month per venue; Pro is KES 19,900. M-Pesa fees pass through at Safaricom’s standard rate (~0.5%). No setup fees.

  • How fast is M-Pesa settlement?

    Deposits settle to your own M-Pesa till, typically within 24 hours, and Karamu reconciles each payment to its booking automatically.

  • Which countries are supported?

    We’re starting in Kenya, where our pilot restaurants are, with Ethiopia next — then Tanzania and Nigeria on the roadmap. WhatsApp and SMS reach guests anywhere.

See it in your own service.

Apply for the pilot and a founder spins up your floor plan with you on a 30-minute call.

Apply for the pilot Try the demo