Our artisanal peppers are made in small batches and lovingly hand-packed here in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Who we are…
As chefs, our passion is all about amazing, tasty food and making people happy. As humans, our passion is to make a positive impact in this world by helping others.
Our goal: to do “intentional acts of kindness.” We created Savor Acts so we can help our community.
So get your Savor Acts hot pickled peppers…chill. eat and feel the heat!
xxx,
Doreen + Anna
We can all make a difference, one jar at a time.
Giving back…
Currently 5% of all proceeds will go to the Bonnie Fang Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) that provides nursing scholarships to nursing students with a financial need.
Bonnie was Doreen’s mom, who was a nurse that passed away from lung cancer. The stories of Bonnie’s compassionate and giving nature compelled Doreen and her sister’s to create the Bonnie Fang Foundation. To continue her mom’s legacy of giving to others in need. Doreen gets her love of helping others from her mom.
This is a 100% volunteer run nonprofit organization in its 20th year of giving. For their 20th Anniversary, they gave over $20,000 in scholarship money.
For more information or if you’d like to make a donation, please visit www.helphopehonor.org
How it all began…a surplus of peppers growing in our organic raised bed gardens and an obsession for pickled peppers (and my mom’s love for hot spicy chilies). What better way to preserve all the beautiful, spicy peppers? Savor Acts Hot Ass Peppers was born.
More about us…
Doreen Fang | Savor Acts® |CEO/Co-Founder and Chief Pepper Pickler
Note: This isn’t a quick two paragraph bio. So prepare yourself for a bit of a read. 😁
As a chef, creating new recipes and challenging herself to make something “better” has always been her passion. It was this passion and desire to create better hot pickled peppers that really spurred the humble beginnings of Savor Acts, along with an over abundant pepper garden, HOT ASS was created. Pickling peppers, giving them as gifts; suddenly the request to sell them started this whole journey.
Doreen’s love of food and cooking started when she was 5 years old, but her professional cooking career has spanned over 26 years. She created a boutique catering business, Apropos Culinary Artistry, with her best friend and business partner, Anna, in the San Francisco Bay Area, while in culinary school. Then later started Dining with Doreen, her food blog. She was also a finalist on the Food Network’s, The Next Food Network Star, Season 6. Since her television debut on the Food Network, she continues to share her recipes as the resident chef on The Vegas Morning Blend and on various television stations across the country. She also continues to share her lifestyle and passion for food on various social media platforms like Instagram as DiningwithDoreen, and Facebook and Twitter.
Besides food, helping others and making a positive difference in the community is something that Doreen is incredibly passionate about. When her mom passed away from lung cancer in 2002, she and her sisters took a difficult moment and turned it into something positive by creating the The Bonnie Fang Foundation™. The tremendous impact her mom made as a nurse and individual has played a major influence in Doreen’s life. Giving back to the community in multiple ways is extremely important to her.
Growing up in California to Chinese/Taiwanese immigrant parents, Chinese food was what she was predominantly raised on, and it was her desire and openness to try new foods that took her to culinary school instead of going to medical school (or becoming a professional pool player). Her mom loved eating spicy foods, which also rubbed off on Doreen (and affectionately nicknamed her mom: Spicy Girl). As a Chinese-American, Doreen loves her culture and foods, but it is her passion to learn and try new foods from diverse cultures that pushes her to expand her food knowledge. She is always cooking and trying new things and is also working on creating more unique items within the Savor Acts® family.
To her friends, Doreen has always been the unfiltered jokester that loves to laugh, listens to friends and gives advice, spending time with friends and family, and loves food! Hence the fun names each of our peppers have. She also LOVES animals! In another life, she says she would’ve either chosen to be a comedian/actor or veterinarian.
Doreen’s life motto: Life is short…be kind to one another, eat well, laugh and cherish each moment you have with those you love.
Doreen + Mom | Bonnie
Graduation from the California Culinary Academy, San Francisco | Jan 18, 1998 4 years before her passing
Anna Johnson | Savor Acts® | COO/Co-Founder
Anna’s professional cooking career has spanned over 30 years.
Anna’s love for food developed as a very young child. Raised by her nana, she was always surrounded by family, food and fun. Some of her fondest memories are going to the market and cooking with her nana and large family gatherings.
Because of her love and passion for cooking, she also knew the importance of getting a degree to help her build a future business in the restaurant industry. She graduated from Northern Arizona University with a BS in Hotel Restaurant Management. To further her passion for food, she decided to attend the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. Where she and Doreen started their boutique catering business, Apropos Culinary Artistry.
Anna is also extremely passionate about giving back to the community and has supported Doreen and the Bonnie Fang Foundation™ over the past 20 years and serves as a Board Member. Her other great love is animals. She currently volunteers with various rescues in Las Vegas. (And Doreen is usually her sidekick in these animal adventures).
Anna is a woman of few words (since Doreen talks all the time), but she has the greatest impact with her actions for helping others (this includes all the fur babies).
Nana + Anna
Sharing a hug with her Annie
How this friendship began…
San Francisco, California | 1996
Anna remembers standing in line at the registrars office, waiting to pay her tuition. There was one person in front of her, an Asian girl standing at the window. She suddenly heard the Asian girl exclaim, “THAT’S THE BIGGEST CHECK I EVER WROTE!” Anna turned to her friend and they laughed.
Classes began, Anna was a great student, sitting in the first row, quietly and attentively listening and taking notes. Doreen sat in the 2nd to the last row and also took “great notes.”
Doreen tried to befriend Anna and another friend, Ari, but they thought Doreen was one of the rowdy kids sitting in the back. So it took a hot minute before their friendship began. Doreen didn’t have the same cooking and restaurant experience/background Anna had. She was self-taught and had much to learn, but she knew what she liked. One day in a dessert class, (everyone was paired up), Anna and her partner created the most beautiful nectarine Napoleon dish and it was that moment that Doreen knew she had to work with Anna. She had to work with someone who she viewed as the best in their class.
And the rest is history.
Both Anna and Doreen have both faced adversity and despite the challenges they may have had in the past, they have risen above and continue to push beyond it and support one another to meet their goals. 26 years later, this friendship and business partnership continues to flourish as they make a positive difference not only in the hot pickled pepper world, but their overall community.
Doreen + Ari + Anna
Circa late 1990s (it was a long time ago, we don’t remember the actual year).