They did have Terrific happy hour specials. But...they made NOTHING from them. Fact!
Happy Hour concepts were not designed to make money from the special hours or discounts themselves. They were created to assist an establishment with increasing it's clientele, and promoting/instilling the name, substance, and quality of the business to those they may not otherwise attract.
The fact that the business mentioned above made "NOTHING" from their happy hours is reflective of the module, not the establishment itself. Now, if persons remained consuming in the establishment, returned to the establishment, or recommended it to others based on their positive experiences there during the happy hour, then they did indeed generate a benefit from them.
A business that is hoping to survive solely on just a good happy hour, is failed to doom from the beginning.