Botswana Butchery restaurants in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra have entered voluntary administration, along with sibling Sydney Asian-inspired restaurant White + Wong’s, in one of the biggest hospitality shake-outs of 2024.

The New Zealand steakhouse with an African name has aggressively opened restaurants on the eastern seaboard, lifting one critic’s eyebrows with a 1.6-kilogram wagyu tomahawk covered in gold leaf at $500 a head.

Joint administrator Duncan Clubb from audit and accounting organisation BDO was unavailable for comment, but released a statement saying BDO had been appointed to Good Group Hospitality in recent days.

“The administrators are undertaking an urgent assessment of the companies and if possible, intend to continue trade with a view of facilitating a restructure or going-concern sale process in due course,” the BDO statement read. New Zealand operations at Good Group are not affected.

For now, the amount owed to creditors remains unclear.

The explanation for the African name traces back to a chef of Botswanan heritage who helped to open the original location in Queenstown, New Zealand, in 2007. The origin of the name White + Wong’s is less clear, with some users on social media querying its appropriateness, but it may be related to a racist comment made by New Zealand politician Winston Peters in 2014.

Good Group’s assault across the Tasman appeared to be well-timed, opening during the dining boom of post-peak pandemic. The Sydney and Melbourne restaurants launched in 2022, while the Canberra eatery opened only two months ago.

In Sydney, Botswana Butchery landed on prime turf at 25 Martin Place and lured seasoned Sydney chefs. It was big, seating 300 people, with capacity over its three floors for more than 900 standing.

Australia is competitive territory for steakhouses, however, and parlaying the New Zealand success wouldn’t be straight-forward. A 2022 review from Good Food’s Terry Durack had a lukewarm score of 13/20.

“Botswana is the sort of bustling, conventional steakhouse designed for the kind of business lunch or dinner that used to happen when the CBD had a lot of businesses that did lunch or dinner. At this stage, it has the steak, but we’ll have to wait a bit longer for the sizzle,” Durack wrote.

The Melbourne branch earned a more encouraging 14/20 from Age critic Besha Rodell: “Is the food any good? Does the service run like a well-greased machine, headset microphones on the black-clad staff? Is the wine list broad, varied and even intermittently affordable? Yes, yes, yes.

“Aside from the name, if I have any problem at all with Botswana Butchery, it’s that it lacks personality, specificity, in other words, soul. But I can’t think of a better place for a business lunch, especially one that includes folks who might have disparate tastes.”

All three Botswana Butchery Australian restaurants remain open for business.

White + Wong’s in Sydney ceased trading upon BDO’s appointment, while White + Wong’s Chadstone and another Good Group venue Wong Baby in South Yarra had already closed.